Surgeons Remote-Control Humanoid Robots to Perform First Live Animal Surgery

Surgeons have successfully operated robotic humanoids to perform minimally invasive procedures on living animals—marking a watershed moment in remote-controlled surgical technology. Rather than autonomous decision-making machines, the robots functioned as extensions of human physicians who guided their movements from a distance, demonstrating a collaborative model for future surgical care.

The Breakthrough#

During a preclinical study published in Nature, teleoperated humanoid robots completed gallbladder extractions on live pigs under the direction of trained surgeons. This achievement opens a path toward bringing advanced surgical capabilities to medical facilities that cannot afford the massive capital investment traditional robotic surgery systems demand.

Why Humanoid Robots?#

The experiment employed a Unitree G1 model, a humanoid platform produced by the Chinese robotics manufacturer Unitree. Compared to purpose-built surgical systems like Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci platform—which can exceed several million dollars and weigh nearly a ton—humanoid robots offer compelling advantages: the G1 stands roughly five feet tall, weighs 60 pounds, and can be configured for surgical work at a fraction of the cost.

The baseline G1 with upgraded dexterous hands runs upward of $67,000, positioning it far below the financial barrier of traditional surgical robots while maintaining genuine operative capability.

Practical Impact#

According to Shanglei Liu, an assistant professor of surgery at UC San Diego, the approach promises to democratize advanced surgical access. "It's a fraction of the cost and it takes a fraction of the space in an operating room," Liu told UC San Diego Today. Small hospitals, rural clinics, battlefield medical units, and even space-based missions could theoretically deploy such systems where heavyweight surgical robots would be impractical.