Researchers at the University of California San Diego have used teleoperated humanoid robots to complete two surgical procedures in a preclinical trial, including a gallbladder removal performed by a robot working with a human assistant. A second procedure was carried out by two humanoid robots operating side by side. Both surgeries were performed on large non-primate mammals, according to a peer-reviewed study published in Nature.
The researchers described the work as a proof of concept for using general-purpose humanoid robots in operating rooms. Surgeons remotely controlled the robots during the procedures rather than relying on autonomous operation. The robots, nicknamed Surgie, are about five feet tall and weigh approximately 60 pounds. Researchers fitted them with adapters that allowed them to hold conventional surgical instruments.
The team said the humanoid design could offer an alternative to specialized robotic surgery systems, which typically use several robotic arms, dedicated instruments and proprietary software. Such systems can weigh about 1,800 pounds and may require operating rooms to be modified before installation. Humanoid robots are smaller, mobile and designed to perform a wider range of physical tasks. These characteristics could make them easier to deploy in rural hospitals, remote communities and other settings where space, staffing and equipment are limited.
Michael Yip, a professor in UC San Diego’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a senior author of the study, said remotely operated robots could help extend access to surgical care in areas affected by workforce shortages. “Remotely operated and autonomous humanoid robots have real potential for amplifying access to critical surgeries to which patients would otherwise not have access,” Yip said.
The study also examined how the robots fitted into an existing surgical environment. Nikita Thareja, a general surgery resident at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and a study co-author, said the robot could be incorporated into the team’s workspace and workflow without the extensive changes often required for specialized surgical systems.
Shanglei Liu, an assistant professor of surgery at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and another senior author, remotely controlled a robot during the study. He said its movements provided precision comparable to that of a teleoperated specialist surgical system. The experimental procedures nevertheless took longer than surgeries performed with established robotic platforms. The humanoid robots had to be recalibrated several times during the operations, interrupting the workflow.
The researchers are also working to reduce latency, the delay between a surgeon’s movement of the controller and the corresponding movement of the robot. The issue becomes more important as the distance between the operator and the surgical site increases. Further development and testing would be required before the technology could be used in human operations. The study did not establish a timetable for clinical deployment.
Beyond directly performing surgical tasks, the researchers are considering using humanoid robots as operating-room assistants. Because the machines can move through human-designed environments and manipulate different objects, they could potentially retrieve instruments, support surgical staff and help clean the room after a procedure.
“One of our goals is to develop the autonomous surgical assistant,” Yip said. He described a future operating room in which people and humanoid robots work together in hospitals and field-medicine settings. The research was conducted by engineering and surgical teams at UC San Diego, with support from the university’s Center for the Future of Surgery.
Photo credit: University of California San Diego
