Two humanoid robots removed pigs’ gallbladders under surgeons’ control
Two humanoid robots removed pigs’ gallbladders under surgeons’ control
A team at the University of California San Diego performed two laparoscopic procedures on live pigs using Unitree G1 humanoid robots. Surgeons controlled every movement from a console. The robots do not yet make surgical decisions or operate autonomously.
A paper published on July 8 tested humanoid robots in laparoscopic surgery. Laparoscopy is surgery performed through several small incisions. The surgeon watches a camera feed while manipulating long instruments inside the body. These procedures usually rely on a dedicated system installed in a specially equipped operating room. The researchers used commercially available humanoid robots, built mounts for standard surgical instruments, and linked the robots’ arms to the movements of a surgeon at a console.
During the first procedure, one robot removed the gallbladder with help from an assisting surgeon. During the second, two robots worked at the operating table at the same time. The operator viewed a stereoscopic image and used a foot pedal to activate the transfer of hand movements to the instruments. The robot manipulated the instruments inside the body, but the surgeon remained responsible for every decision and movement.
Why use a humanoid robot if the surgeon still has to sit at a console? The specialized da Vinci robot is designed exclusively for surgery, occupies considerable space, and requires costly infrastructure. The G1 is about one and a half meters tall and weighs about 27 kilograms, so it could be placed in a standard hospital room or a field hospital. If the teleoperation system becomes reliable, a surgeon at a major medical center could operate with robotic hands in a location where the surgeon is not physically present.
For now, the main limitation is mechanical performance. During the procedures, the robots required recalibration several times, and the position of their bodies or arms had to be adjusted. These interruptions made the procedures much longer than operations performed with specialized systems. In training tasks, surgeons and residents generally completed the work faster with the research version of da Vinci. The humanoid robot showed that it could hold and manipulate surgical instruments during an operation on a living animal, but it has not yet matched the precision, speed, or reliability of a specialized system.
Nature describes the first practical test of this division of labor: the physician chooses the action, and a compact machine performs it at the patient’s side. In a hospital without an expensive robotic surgical system, this approach could allow a specialist to operate remotely. Before that becomes possible, the system must reduce latency, eliminate frequent recalibration, and undergo trials involving humans.