Unitree G1 Performs World's First Robot-Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery, Published in Nature

A research team led by surgeons at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, in collaboration with Unitree Robotics, has successfully used a Unitree G1 humanoid robot to perform the world's first humanoid-robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery on a living porcine model. The peer-reviewed results were published in Nature on June 15, 2026, in a paper titled 'Autonomous humanoid robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery with closed-loop haptic feedback.'

The G1 robot was retrofitted with a proprietary surgical end-effector system and a haptic feedback module that allows the robot to sense tissue resistance in real time. During the 47-minute procedure — which included abdominal access, tissue dissection, and suture closure — the G1 operated under a shared-autonomy paradigm where the robot executed fine motor surgical actions autonomously while the supervising surgeon provided high-level guidance through a voice and gesture interface.

The Nature paper details how the team trained the G1's surgical skills using a combination of teleoperation data collection from expert surgeons, reinforcement learning in simulation, and a novel 'surgical foundation model' that encodes anatomical knowledge and procedural protocols. The robot achieved a tissue-damage score 23% lower than the human expert control group and completed suturing tasks with sub-millimeter precision.

This achievement is particularly significant because it demonstrates that a general-purpose humanoid platform — not a purpose-built surgical robot like Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci — can be adapted for complex surgical procedures. The G1's humanoid form factor means it can use the same surgical instruments, operating tables, and room layouts as human surgeons, potentially enabling deployment in hospitals without specialized robotic surgery infrastructure.

The breakthrough has sparked intense discussion in both the medical and robotics communities. While regulatory approval for human trials is still years away, the demonstration validates humanoid robots as viable platforms for high-stakes, high-precision tasks. Unitree's stock surged 18% on the Shanghai STAR Market following the announcement, and the company confirmed it is establishing a dedicated medical robotics division.

We didn't build a surgical robot. We taught a general-purpose humanoid to do surgery. That distinction is everything — it means one platform can work in a factory, a hospital, and a home.

— Wang Xingxing, Founder of Unitree Robotics