Teleoperated Humanoid Robots Complete First Live Surgery in Animal Trials

Surgeons at UC San Diego performed the first live surgical procedures using teleoperated humanoid robots, according to a paper published in Nature. In one procedure, a humanoid robot and a human surgeon acting as an assistant completed a cholecystectomy. In a second, two humanoid robots worked together to finish the operation without human hands on the instruments. The trials were conducted on large non-primate mammals. The humanoid system, nicknamed Surgie and based on a Unitree G1 platform, stands 1.5 meters tall and weighs 27 kg, a fraction of the 800 kg and significant footprint required by conventional surgical robots like the da Vinci system. Surgeons control the robots remotely using standard surgical tools fitted with adapters for the robotic grippers. The team envisions the compact, lower-cost system reaching rural clinics, field hospitals, and battlefield settings where traditional surgical robots are impractical. Operations took longer than standard procedures and required mid-procedure recalibration; latency between surgeon input and robot response remains a challenge. Dr. Michael Yip, UC San Diego engineering professor and co-author, said the goal is an operating theater where humanoid robots and humans work as an integrated team to address surgeon shortages, especially in underserved areas.