SAN DIEGO — Teleoperated humanoid robots successfully removed gallbladders from live pigs in two minimally invasive surgeries during a preclinical trial conducted by engineers and surgeons at the University of California San Diego. The results were published in the journal Nature on July 8.

In the first surgery, a human surgeon served as an assistant alongside the humanoid robot. In the second procedure, two teleoperated humanoid robots worked together to complete the surgery. The robots, nicknamed "Surgie," were Unitree G1 models manufactured by the Chinese robotics company Unitree. They stand 5 feet tall and weigh 60 pounds.

Researchers developed physical adapters for the robots to hold surgical tools and created software to translate human hand movements into controls for the tools attached to the robots' wrists. Surgeons operated the robots from a control console that included a PC, a stereo headset display, and a foot pedal to engage or disengage hand movements.

The surgical team paused during the procedures to recalibrate the robots for accuracy or to physically reposition them. The operations took longer compared to those performed using existing specialized surgical systems.

Shanglei Liu, an assistant professor of surgery at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, said the system offers cost and space advantages. "It's a fraction of the cost and it takes a fraction of the space in an operating room," Liu said. He added that its portability makes it "So it's easy to deploy, anywhere from rural areas, to the battlefield, and even to space." The cheapest baseline Unitree G1 model has a starting price of $13,500, with shipping costs between $300 and $1,200. Adding dexterous robotic hands can increase the cost beyond $67,000.

For comparison, Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci Surgical System can cost between $500,000 and several million dollars and weighs about 1,800 pounds. The da Vinci system has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Michael Yip, a professor of electrical and computing engineering at UC San Diego, stated that the robots demonstrated effective functioning. "As a proof of concept, it absolutely worked," Yip said. He noted the potential for broader impact, saying, "Remotely operated and autonomous humanoid robots have real potential for amplifying access to critical surgeries to which patients would otherwise not have access." Yip added, "This can help address the healthcare crisis not only in the United States, but also worldwide."