In vivo feasibility study of humanoid robots in surgery.

Humanoid robots demonstrate promising yet limited capabilities for laparoscopic surgery, with key technical challenges remaining before clinical deployment.

• Why it matters: Addressing staffing shortages and increasing healthcare demands requires advanced automation that can safely and effectively perform embodied tasks like surgery, which current digital solutions cannot fully replace.
• What they did: A systematic evaluation was conducted using a humanoid-based teleoperation framework, including benchtop tests, user studies with diverse surgical experience, and in vivo porcine experiments, totaling multiple assessments of performance.
• The result: Findings show humanoid robots are technically feasible for surgical tasks but face significant limitations, emphasizing the need for further development to meet safety, precision, and control standards for clinical use.