Minimally invasive oesophagectomy and gastrectomy are increasingly used procedures due to the known advantages, e.g. shorter hospital stay, less post-operative pain and quicker recovery. The technical disadvantages of laparoscopy and thoracoscopy are, however, limited degrees of freedom and ergonomic discomfort for the surgeons, but these drawbacks are expected to be reduced by robot-assisted surgery with its seven degrees of freedom, 3D vision, tremor filtering and improved ergonomics. The purpose of the review is to describe the current and future use of robot-assisted surgery for gastro-oesophageal cancer.