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Technology & Innovation Active Updated Jul 9, 2026

Humanoid robots enter the operating room

A UCSD team conducted the first surgeries using teleoperated humanoid robots, completing a gallbladder removal with a surgeon assisting a single robot and a second procedure with two robots working together, both on large nonprimate animals. Unlike conventional robotic surgical systems that weigh hundreds of kilograms and require purpose-built rooms, the Surgie robots stand five feet tall and weigh 27 kilograms. The arc will run as the field works toward human trials, with force sensing in soft tissue, precision, and clinical safety identified as unsolved problems in the Nature study.

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  1. Jul 9, 2026 Latest

    A UCSD team completed the first surgeries using teleoperated humanoid robots, including a gallbladder removal with a surgeon assisting a single robot and a second procedure with two robots working together on large nonprimate animals [182]. The peer-reviewed study in Nature evaluated the platform across benchtop characterization, dry-lab user studies, and live porcine trials, and was explicit that precision, force sensing in soft tissue, and clinical safety are challenges that remain unsolved before any move toward human patients [13].

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