- Two humanoid robots successfully performed live pig surgeries, a global first
- Surgeries included gallbladder removals with robots retracting and dissecting tissue
- One surgery had a robot lead with surgeon assist, another used two robots alone
In a world first, two humanoid robots have successfully performed surgeries on live pigs, a breakthrough that could potentially change the future of hospital care. Detailed on July 8 in the journal Nature, the procedures were developed by engineers and surgeons from the University of California San Diego. The robots completed laparoscopic cholecystectomies (gallbladder removals) by retracting tissue, dissecting, clipping, and lifting the gallbladder out of the liver bed.
While one surgery was led by a humanoid robot and assisted by a surgeon, the other surgery was completed by two humanoid robots, according to the university.
The goal of the experiment was to understand whether humanoid robots are useful for extending medical care in the physical absence of human doctors. Dr Ryan Broderick, interim director of the Center for the Future of Surgery at UC San Diego, highlighted that as "proof of concept", the experiment "absolutely worked", as per ABC News.
“Humanoid form factors offer unique potential, particularly for assisting with surgical tasks,” the team reported in its Github overview. “Traditionally, robotic systems for surgery are purpose-built platforms such as Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci Surgical System, and it remains unclear how close current humanoid systems are to meeting the precision, control, and safety requirements of minimally invasive surgery.”
The researchers built physical adapters to allow the humanoid robots to hold the surgical tools. They also developed software to allow intuitive human hand motions to translate smoothly into controlling the surgical tools aattached to the robots' wrists.
Researchers and doctors have even given the humanoid robots a nickname, "Surgie". The doctors are hopeful that "surgie" can be used outside of a hospital operating room in the future.
The team highlighted that they did not custom-build a robot for this job. Rather, they used two off-the-shelf Unitree G1 robots that stand only four to five feet tall and cost under $20,000.
Since humans were still deeply involved in the process, the researchers said there are still “key technical challenges that must be addressed before clinical deployment".
