Humanoid surgery

"In vivo feasibility study of humanoid robots in surgery" is a research study from UC San Diego (Advanced Robotics and Control Lab, Michael Yip's group) published in Nature in 2026. It evaluates how well a contemporary general-purpose humanoid robot can perform minimally invasive laparoscopic surgical tasks, compared with purpose-built platforms such as Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci system.

The authors built a humanoid-based laparoscopic teleoperation framework using general-purpose instruments. A Unitree G1 humanoid carries the instruments, including an endoscope, and is controlled by an operator with a Meta Quest headset, according to a video creator's summary. The evaluation covered benchtop characterization, dry-lab user studies with participants of varying surgical experience, and in vivo porcine studies, including a live animal cholecystectomy. The paper quantifies technical feasibility, task performance and clinical readiness against established surgical platforms.

This is an academic feasibility study, not a commercial product. The authors conclude it gives an evidence-based view of current humanoid capabilities and limitations, and that key technical challenges remain before clinical deployment. Note that one video creator described the robot as assisting surgery on a "real patient"; the project page itself describes porcine (animal) studies.