Google and health-care giant Johnson & Johnson have teamed to make robots better at helping surgeons make big changes with small incisions and as little damage as possible.

Details about what each will contribute to the partnership – or even what the goal is – are purposely vague, but it appears that Google’s contribution will be things it is already good at, not the kind of really new capabilities robot-assisted surgical systems actually need.

The deal, announced Friday with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) subsidiary Ethicon had no details, but did say the two would develop a surgical platform that sounded a lot like it would compete with that of Intuitive Surgical, Inc., whose da Vinci surgical-assist systems enjoy a surprisingly dismal dominance of the surgical robotics market the company was instrumental in creating.

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