The world’s first case: a humanoid robot enters the operating room, and doctors control it to complete a live surgery

Researchers reported in the July 8 issue of Nature that two remotely controlled humanoid robots were used for the first time to complete two surgeries, in a preclinical trial.

The study is the result of collaboration between an engineering team and a team of surgeons at the University of California, San Diego.

In one surgery, a human-robot team composed of the humanoid robot and a human surgeon as an assistant successfully completed a cholecystectomy.

The second successful surgery was completed through side-by-side collaboration by two humanoid robots, which falls under a robot-and-robot team surgery. Both procedures were performed on large non-human primates.

The researchers said this proof-of-concept experiment is the first step toward bringing humanoid robots into the operating room.

These robots can first serve as assistants during surgery, and in the future, surgeons could remotely control them to carry out procedures.

Michael Yip, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, San Diego and one of the senior authors of the paper, said that the shortage of surgeons and the continuously growing demand from patients coexist, leading to longer wait times, fewer opportunities for care, and worsened uneven allocation of medical resources.

“Remote control and autonomous humanoid robots have real potential to expand access to critical surgeries and get patients who otherwise couldn’t receive these procedures treated. This not only helps address the health care crisis in the United States, but also eases health care dilemmas worldwide.”

The researchers noted that unlike dedicated surgical robot systems that can only perform a single function, humanoid robots have diverse capabilities and can be used to perform a wide range of surgical procedures and general tasks.

These robots can also be more easily deployed to remote areas and other challenging environments, where versatility is especially important.

“This study shows that humanoid robots have a viable future in surgery. You can imagine these robots being deployed to remote communities where staffing is difficult, or in harsh environments—for example, search-and-rescue scenarios, where large-scale field medical deployments are needed in a short time,” Yip said. He is also a professor at the Jacobs School of Engineering at the University of California, San Diego.

What advantages do humanoid robots have in the operating room?

In fact, humanoid robots can address a major problem in health care: access to medical services.

Dedicated surgical systems are typically equipped with three to four robotic arms, specialized tools, and proprietary software.

These systems weigh about 1,800 pounds, require a large team to set up, and take up significant space in the operating room—rooms often need to be modified to accommodate them.

By contrast, humanoid robots are mobile and more compact. The robots used in this study—nicknamed Surigie—are 5 feet tall and weigh 60 pounds. (The experiment uses the G1 humanoid robot produced by Unitree Technology in China.)

These relatively lightweight and compact robots are especially useful in remote and resource-poor areas.

Yip said that in these environments, the cost of building dedicated operating rooms for surgical robot systems or finding large teams to operate specialized equipment would be prohibitively high.

Unlike typical surgical operation systems, humanoid robots can be seamlessly integrated into the operating room.

While the researchers did need to make adapters so that Surgie could hold conventional surgical instruments, controlling the humanoid robot feels more natural—especially for people who have not been trained on dedicated systems.

“We were surprised that Surgie fit so well with our workspace and workflow,” said Nikita Thareja, MD, a co-author and a resident in general surgery at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

Shanglei Liu, MD, one of the senior authors and an assistant professor of surgery at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, said that the surgeries performed by remotely controlled humanoid robots are just as precise as those performed by remotely controlled surgical robot systems. He was responsible for remote control of the robot during the research period.

“Cost is just a fraction, and the space it occupies in the operating room is also just a fraction. So it’s easy to deploy—whether in remote areas or in space,” Liu said.

What’s the next step?

Remote control still has some issues to be resolved. The robot must be recalibrated multiple times during surgery.

As a result, the procedure takes much longer than using existing dedicated surgical systems.

But Liu said this is also common in early dedicated robot systems, and is very likely to improve over time. The first robotic laparoscopic surgery took six hours, and now it takes just 30 minutes.

A problem the team is working to improve is the latency between the surgeon’s mobile controller and the robot’s movement, because they are exploring longer-distance remote surgeries for remote communities.

The researchers also saw different roles for Surgie. Because it can walk and perform most of the physical tasks humans can do, it can help surgeons retrieve tools and clean up the operating room after surgery.

“One of our goals is to develop autonomous surgical assistants,” Yip said.

“Many communities face a shortage of surgical team staffing, which means patients cannot receive treatment. Our goal is to build the operating room of the future, where humanoid robots and humans work side by side, as an integrated team providing surgical services to those in need—whether in traditional hospital settings or in unconventional health care scenarios.”

The researchers emphasized that this work relies on close collaboration between engineers and surgeons, as well as the role of the future surgery center at the University of California, San Diego.

“This achievement reflects the power of bringing together engineer and surgeon innovators to solve meaningful clinical problems in our world-class training and research laboratories,” said Ryan Broderick, MD, interim director of the future surgery center and an associate professor of surgery at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

“Our center builds a bridge between engineering innovation and clinical expertise, enabling transformative ideas to be rigorously developed, tested, and refined.”

Source of this article: Machine Sequence

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