Humanoid robots that mimic human movement and function have now successfully performed two gallbladder removal surgeries on a live patient.
While the humanoid robots did not make any medical decisions and no human patients were involved, human surgeons from the University of California, San Diego, were able to remotely guide them to complete the two gallbladder removal procedures.
The laparoscopic gallbladder removal procedures, conducted on live pigs, were the first to ever be performed by general-purpose humanoid robots.
In one of the surgeries, a qualified human veterinarian was on call to oversee anesthesia and general welfare as a robot surgeon from UC San Diego worked with a human assistant to remove the gallbladder of the live test animal. In the second procedure, two humanoid robots collaborated to perform the same gallbladder surgery with trained human surgeons remotely controlling them.
Humanoid robots could eventually help perform surgeries in remote or rural areas
“Remotely operated and autonomous humanoid robots have real potential for amplifying access to critical surgeries to which patients would otherwise not have access,” said Michael Yip, one of the study’s senior authors. “This can help address the healthcare crisis not only in the United States but also worldwide.”
Yip added that the “study shows that humanoid robots have a viable future in the field of surgery.”
He believes that humanoid robots such as these can eventually be “deployed in remote communities where staffing is challenging, or in austere environments like search and rescue scenarios where a massive deployment of field medicine is needed in a short period of time.”
Dr. Shanglei Liu, another one of the study’s senior authors, said, “It’s a fraction of the cost and it takes a fraction of the space in an operating room. So it’s easy to deploy, anywhere from rural areas, to the battlefield and even to space.”
Eventually, the study’s authors foresee a time when humanoid robots will be assisting with performing surgeries autonomously.
“Many communities struggle with adequate staffing on the surgical team, which means patients are not being treated,” said Yip. “Our goal is an operating theater of the future, where humanoid robots and humans work side by side as an integrated team to deliver procedures to those in need, both in traditional hospital settings as well as in non-traditional, field medicine scenarios.”