Recent advancements in robotic surgery have resulted in a landmark achievement where a surgical robot has operated on a pig’s gallbladder by following vocal commands. The intricate procedure serves as a significant milestone in the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into healthcare.

The robots, trained through instructional videos, executed the gallbladder removal with precision under the guidance of a senior surgeon’s vocal directions. Remarkably, they adapted quickly to unforeseen circumstances during the surgery.

“This work represents a major leap from prior efforts because it tackles some of the fundamental barriers to deploying autonomous surgical robots in the real world,” stated Ji Woong Kim, the lead study author.

This method reflects how human surgeons are taught, suggesting that existing training methodologies could also be applied to educate robotic systems, potentially making robotic surgical training more accessible to hospitals.

Dr. Mathias Unberath, from Johns Hopkins University, emphasized the challenges involved in this training methodology, stating, “How do you write this down? How do you write that in code?”.

In this successful study, the robots achieved 100% accuracy during the gallbladder removal, indicating a promising future for AI in surgery.