UC San Diego’s Humanoid Robots Perform First Live Animal Surgeries

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego used off‑the‑shelf Unitree G1 humanoid robots, teleoperated by surgeons, to remove gallbladders from live pigs in a preclinical trial. Two procedures were performed: one with a robot assisted by a human surgeon, and a second with two robots working together. The robots, nicknamed “Surgie,” stand about 1.5 m tall and weigh roughly 27 kg, making them far smaller and cheaper than traditional surgical platforms such as the da Vinci system.

The team reported that the robots could be deployed in rural clinics, disaster zones, battlefield settings or even space missions, potentially helping address worldwide surgeon shortages. Challenges observed included the need for multiple recalibrations, limited arm reach, and communication latency, which made the operations slower than with established systems. As Shanglei Liu said, “It’s a fraction of the cost and it takes a fraction of the space in an operating room.” The work was published in Nature and is described as the first world‑first use of teleoperated humanoid robots in live surgery.