Study: Humanoid robots perform minimally invasive surgery on pigs
A paper published in Nature describes how teleoperated humanoid robots successfully performed minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery in live animals.
Key takeaways
- The most recent headlines show a rapid expansion of humanoid robots across industry, consumer markets, and healthcare.
- Chinese automaker BYD, now the world’s top EV seller, is leveraging its fleet of about 200 factory‑floor robots to develop new humanoids for production lines, dealerships and, eventually, homes, with a goal of placing three units in every household.
- XPeng unveiled its next‑generation IRON robot, a 5‑foot‑8‑inch machine that combines 82 degrees of freedom with an electronic‑skin‑covered, bionic spine and a 3‑D curved facial display for lifelike expressions.
- Unitree continues to dominate volume shipments, reporting roughly 10,000 humanoids sold to date, including 5,500 in 2025, as it prepares for a Shanghai IPO.
- In the consumer space, San Francisco startup Weave Robotics began delivering its wheeled Isaac 1 home robot, priced at $7,999, to perform chores such as laundry folding and bed‑making.
A paper published in Nature describes how teleoperated humanoid robots successfully performed minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery in live animals.
Global
Emerging Technologies
By Jessica Hagen,Executive Editor| July 13, 2026 | 2:53 PM
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Photo: MASTER/Getty Images
A study published in Nature demonstrates how researchers at theUniversity of California San Diego (UC San Diego) performed the first successful minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery on live animals using teleoperated humanoid robots and standard surgical instruments. "We initially assess system performance through benchtop experiments and dry-laboratory studies, and further validate the framework in the first humanoid-based in vivo porcine study in which the teleoperated humanoid completes two cholecystectomies," the researchers wrote.
The robots successfully completed laparoscopic gallbladder removal in pigs, including one procedure performed using two teleoperated humanoid robots working together.
Ultimately, the study found that humanoid robots could perform complex, minimally invasive surgical tasks, demonstrating that general-purpose humanoid robots can be adapted for laparoscopic procedures. By []( Bender | July 10, 2026
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