AI Research

UCSD researchers successfully demonstrate the first in-vivo teleoperated surgical procedures using general-purpose humanoid robots.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) have achieved a milestone in medical robotics by using Unitree G1 general-purpose humanoid robots (nicknamed "Surgie") to perform laparoscopic gallbladder removals on live animal subjects. The study, published in Nature, evaluated a teleoperated humanoid platform that utilizes standard surgical instruments via custom-made hand adapters. In the trials, the researchers successfully demonstrated both human-robot teams (a humanoid operated by a teleoperator assisting a human surgeon) and robot-robot teams (two humanoids working cooperatively) to complete the surgical tasks. This research indicates that while humanoid platforms are currently slower and less precise than specialized systems like the da Vinci, they offer a far more compact, versatile, and cost-effective alternative that could expand surgical access to remote, rural, or emergency settings.