Humanoid Robots Remove 2 Pig Gallbladders Remotely as $67,000 Systems Challenge Costlier Surgical Machines
Updated
Updated · Ars Technica · Jul 9
Humanoid Robots Remove 2 Pig Gallbladders Remotely as $67,000 Systems Challenge Costlier Surgical Machines
3 articles · Updated · Ars Technica · Jul 9
Summary
Two teleoperated humanoid robots completed minimally invasive gallbladder removals in live pigs, marking a preclinical first reported in Nature.
Human surgeons—not autonomous software—remotely controlled the robots’ movements, testing whether robotic-assisted surgery could be delivered from afar.
Unitree’s G1 platform can cost more than $67,000 with dexterous-hand upgrades, still far below specialized surgical robots such as da Vinci systems that run from about $500,000 to several million dollars.
At about 60 pounds and 5 feet tall, the humanoid robots also take far less operating-room space than roughly 1,800-pound surgical systems, which researchers say could make them easier to deploy in rural clinics, battlefields and even space.