Overview
- Researchers published a Nature paper on July 8 reporting two live preclinical cholecystectomies that were completed with continuous human teleoperation of humanoid robots.
- One operation was done by a human‑robot team and a second was done by two robots working together, and both procedures were performed on large non‑primate mammals as proof‑of‑concept tests.
- The robots, nicknamed Surgie and built from off‑the‑shelf Unitree G1 platforms, are roughly five feet tall, weigh about 60 pounds and were fitted with adapters so they could hold standard surgical instruments.
- Trials exposed key limits: teams performed multiple mid‑procedure recalibrations, procedures took longer than with specialist systems, latency between controller input and motion remained, and units were tethered for safety.
- Authors say the next steps are engineering iterations to cut latency and improve controls, broader preclinical validation and planning for autonomy research and regulatory and clinical trials before any human use, a path that could expand surgical access if solved.