Biz Break: Google to help make surgical robots, challenging Intuitive Surgical

Today: Google strikes deal with Johnson & Johnson to make robots that can assist surgeons, launching a new challenge to Sunnyvale's Intuitive Surgical. Also: Intel, Altera soar after reports of merger. Google's newest push into health care technology involves surgical robots, a partnership with a pharmaceutical giant and competition with one of Silicon Valley's largest medical-device companies. Google and a Johnson & Johnson unit announced Friday that they will be working together to make robots that can assist in surgeries, a strategic collaboration with no price tag announced. The aim of the project appears to be similar to the da Vinci robots manufactured and sold by Sunnyvale's Intuitive Surgical, the third largest public Silicon Valley company in the biotech/health care sector.