UC San Diego Humanoid Robots Complete 2 Pig Gallbladder Surgeries at $20,000 Each
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 14
UC San Diego Humanoid Robots Complete 2 Pig Gallbladder Surgeries at $20,000 Each
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 14
Summary
Two teleoperated humanoid robots completed live laparoscopic gallbladder removals on pigs in a UC San Diego preclinical trial—the first such surgeries using general-purpose humanoid machines.
Surgeons remotely controlled the roughly 5-foot, 60-pound robots, which copied human movements with standard surgical tools inside a normal operating room rather than a specialized robotic suite.
The team says the setup could extend specialist surgery to rural clinics, field hospitals and other hard-to-reach sites, with a base robot price far below conventional systems that can cost $700,000 to more than $3 million.
Researchers still had to recalibrate the robots during surgery, the procedures took longer than established robotic operations, and latency, reliability and cybersecurity remain major barriers before any human trials.
Can $20,000 humanoid robots truly democratize surgery, or will hidden infrastructure costs keep them out of reach for remote communities?
With autonomous robots already outperforming surgeons in some tasks, how long until they replace humans in the operating room entirely?
When an AI-assisted robot makes a mistake during surgery, who is ultimately held responsible: the surgeon, the hospital, or the developer?
World-First: Teleoperated Humanoid Robots Successfully Perform Live Gallbladder Surgery on Pigs, Paving the Way for Global Surgical Access
Overview
In a world-first achievement, teleoperated Unitree G1 humanoid robots, known as 'Surgie,' performed two laparoscopic gallbladder removal surgeries on live pigs at UC San Diego. This milestone marks the beginning of integrating humanoid robots into operating rooms, where they are first expected to assist and later perform surgeries under human teleoperation. The procedures were fully controlled by surgeons, highlighting that the robots acted as precise extensions of human expertise rather than autonomous agents. This breakthrough underscores the importance of human oversight and sets the stage for future advancements in robotic-assisted surgery.