DARPA-SN-27-02.pdf

DARPA Surgical Competition (DSC) Second Industry Day

DARPA-SN-27-02

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Biological Technologies Office (BTO)

Posting Date: October 13, 2026 Special Notice (SN) DARPA-SN-27-02: DARPA Surgical Competition Second Industry Day Date: Wednesday, November 4th, 2026, 4:00pm to 6:00pm Eastern Time (ET) Location: Virtual Meeting Classification: Unclassified Registration Deadline: November 2nd, 2026, 5:00pm Eastern Time (ET) Registration Website: https://events.sa-meetings.com/DSCSecondIndustryDay E-mail: SurgicalCompetition@darpa.mil Technical Point of Contact (POC): Jeremy Pamplin, BTO Program Manager

The Biological Technologies Office (BTO) of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will host a Second Industry Day for potential competitors in the DARPA Surgical Competition (DSC). The Second Industry Day will be held on Wednesday November 4th, 2026, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM virtually. Advance registration is required. Note: all times listed in this announcement and on the registration website are Eastern Time.

The Second Industry Day goals include:

1. Allow those who were unable to attend the First Industry Day a chance to learn about the vision and goals of the DARPA Surgical Competition.

2. Provide another opportunity for engagement with the DSC team to answer questions regarding the competition before Qualifications close on November 13th, 2026.

The Second Industry Day will include brief overview presentations by government personnel as well as an information session to respond to questions from participants. For those who participated in the First Industry Day, this meeting will be mostly a repeat of information and materials provided in the first meeting, however, it will provide another opportunity to engage in a live Q&A with the DSC Team.

Attendance at this event is not a requirement for qualification as a competitor. Information relayed during the Second Industry Day will be made available at:

https://www.darpa.mil/research/challenges/surgical

COMPETITION OVERVIEW:

The DARPA Surgical Competition (DSC) seeks to establish the current state of the art for open, robotic trauma surgery and identify emerging technologies to further develop for autonomous robotic surgery and surgical assistance. The primary objective is to develop a minimum viable product for scalable trauma surgical robotics. This system must be capable of safely and collaboratively assisting with trauma surgery while rapidly learning new capabilities to gain trust https://events.sa-meetings.com/DSCSecondIndustryDay https://www.darpa.mil/research/challenges/surgical and independence as a reliable surgical assistant or independent surgeon under appropriate indications.

The DARPA Surgical Competition aims to evaluate the integration of rapidly developing technologies to create an autonomous robotic surgeon. The competition will initially assess the key components required for robotic surgical assistance, focusing on a platform’s ability to communicate, rapidly learn, and safely interact with medical instruments and soft tissue. Upon successfully passing these component gates, platforms will be evaluated on both their collaborative and independent surgical capabilities—two operational configurations that any human surgeon must competently master.

The DARPA Surgical Competition features three main evaluations: 1) Component Gates,

2) Surgical Collaboration, and 3) Surgical Independence.

Component Gates: Component Gates are evaluations of the individual components of the autonomous surgical platforms to assess system safety and autonomy. These gates are divided into three sub-categories: medical knowledge, physical capability, and rapid learning.

Surgical Collaboration: The collaborative capability lane will assess the ability of the developed platforms to perform assistive and collaborative surgical tasks side-by-side with a human surgeon. This assessment will be led by a human surgeon lead, who will direct the autonomous system while completing a surgical procedure.

Surgical Independence: The independent capability lane will evaluate the platforms' ability to execute surgical planning and perform surgical tasks without assistance. Systems must assess a trauma-related case, develop a surgical plan, and execute an end-to-end procedure.

ELIGIBILITY AND SECURITY INFORMATION:

Qualification and participation are limited to individuals who are 18 years of age or older, not on the Specially Designated Nations list, and must meet all remaining eligibility criteria within the competition Terms & Conditions. All individuals requesting to participate are subject to screening to confirm participation eligibility.

All registrants for the meeting who are not U.S. Citizens (U.S. Permanent Residents and Foreign Nationals) must submit a DARPA Form 60, except foreign government personnel who must submit only an Official Visit Request completed by their respective Embassy based in Washington, DC. All forms must be submitted no later than 5:00 PM on October 26, 2026 (Note:

This date is in advance of the meeting registration deadline). Form 60 submission instructions are provided on the registration website and in the registration confirmation email. Contact your Embassy staff for assistance in submitting the Official Visit Request.

The DSC will be conducted at the Unclassified level.

The DSC prizes are authorized under 10 U.S.C. § 4025, subject to the availability of appropriated funds for which the payment for prize purposes can be made. The Government reserves the right to withhold prizes to ineligible and disqualified participants. Tax treatment of prizes will be handled in accordance with U.S. Internal Revenue Service guidelines.

The winner will be required to provide a U.S. taxpayer identification number (TIN) or a social security number to receive the cash prize. Information on how to obtain a TIN is available on the U.S. Internal Revenue Service website at www.IRS.gov.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

The registration cutoff date is November 2, 2026, at 5:00 PM ET. There will be no same-day registration. Participants must register in advance through the registration website. Interested parties are encouraged to coordinate attendance internally within their organizations prior to registration. An online registration form and various other meeting details can be found at the registration website:

https://events.sa-meetings.com/DSCSecondIndustryDay

Potential competitor teams are not required to attend Industry Day, although participation is strongly encouraged if potential competitors have not already attended the first Industry Day.

Non-U.S. Citizens seeking registration must complete the following guidance:

• All U.S. Permanent Residents and Foreign Nationals must submit a DARPA Form 60, except foreign government personnel who must submit only an Official Visit Request completed by their respective Embassy based in Washington, DC. Registrants who have submitted a Form 60 that was approved within the last six months do not need to re-submit. The Form 60 will remain valid for six months.

• All forms must be submitted no later than 5:00 PM on October 26, 2026 (Note: This date is in advance of the meeting registration deadline). Form 60 submission instructions are provided on the registration website and in the registration confirmation email. Contact your Embassy staff for assistance in submitting the Official Visit Request.

All administrative and technical questions should be directed to SurgicalCompetition@darpa.mil.

Please refer to the DARPA Surgical Competition Second Industry Day (DARPA-SN-27-02) in all correspondence. This announcement is not a request for proposals; any sent to the Special Notice email address will be disregarded.

DARPA hosts Industry Days to promote teaming arrangements between researchers; provide potential performers with information on whether and how they might respond to the Government’s research and development solicitations; and to increase efficiency in proposal preparation and evaluation. Therefore, Industry Days are open only to registered potential competitors.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The DARPA Surgical Competition Special Notice does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or abstracts. This announcement is issued solely for information purposes and is not a Request for Information (RFI). Since this is not an RFI, no submission against this notice is https://events.sa-meetings.com/DSCSecondIndustryDay required or will be accepted by the Government. Attending the Second Industry Day is voluntary and not required to participate in the DARPA Surgical Competition.