Overview
- In mid-July, UC San Diego researchers reported that two teleoperated humanoid robots completed two laparoscopic gallbladder removals on pigs in a Nature-backed preclinical study.
- Surgeons controlled the robots from a console and the machines used standard handheld surgical instruments inside a normal operating-room workflow.
- The system is much smaller and more mobile than conventional surgical platforms, standing about five feet tall and weighing roughly 27 kilograms, which could ease deployment in under-resourced or temporary facilities.
- Trials exposed clear limits: the robots overheated at times, their limited reach required frequent repositioning and recalibration that added minutes to procedures, and control latency remained a concern for long-distance teleoperation.
- Operators praised the ergonomics and intuitive controls but kept human staff at the bedside; the team plans iterative fixes to controls, cooling, reach and latency, broader preclinical testing and regulatory steps before any human trials.