UC San Diego Humanoid Robots Perform First Remote Gallbladder Surgery

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego used two commercially available Unitree G1 humanoid robots, dubbed “Surgie,” to carry out laparoscopic gallbladder removals on anesthetized pigs. In the first trial a single robot assisted a human surgeon; in the second both robots operated together under tele‑control. The robots, which weigh about 27 kg and cost roughly $13‑20 k, were fitted with adapters to handle standard laparoscopic tools and performed tasks such as tissue retraction, dissection, clipping and gall‑bladder extraction.

The experiments, published in Nature, demonstrate that lightweight, general‑purpose humanoids can function in a conventional operating‑room environment, unlike bulkier systems such as the Da Vinci. Lead author Michael Yip said, “Remotely operated and autonomous humanoid robots have real potential for amplifying access to critical surgeries to which patients would otherwise not have access.” Co‑author Shanglei Liu noted the robots’ low cost and small footprint make them suitable for deployment in rural clinics or field‑medicine scenarios. The team emphasizes that the technology remains experimental, with robots still requiring constant surgeon supervision and further work needed on latency, overheating and reliability before any human trials.