Teleoperated humanoid robots complete a live surgery for the first time

UC San Diego engineers and surgeons tested two humanoid robots, nicknamed Surgie, inside an operating room built for people rather than a specialized surgical rig. In one procedure, a robot worked alongside a human surgeon to remove a gallbladder. In a second, two robots operated together with no human in the loop. The robots needed several mid-surgery recalibrations, so both procedures took longer than they would have on dedicated surgical systems, but researchers say the precision matched existing robotic surgery platforms at a fraction of the cost and footprint.