07/31/2026
A robot guided by an AI just performed surgery with near-perfect accuracy.
In a major step toward autonomous surgical systems, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have successfully trained an AI-guided robot to perform gall bladder removal on a dead pig with near-complete autonomy.
The dual-layer AI model—trained on 17 hours of human surgery footage—translated video input into verbal commands like “clip the second duct,” which were then converted into precise tool movements.
The robot completed all 17 surgical tasks across eight procedures with 100% task success, demonstrating real-time self-correction and only limited human intervention.
While full autonomy in live human surgeries remains years away, the milestone marks a significant advance in surgical robotics. Experts emphasize that while the robot occasionally needed tool changes or adjusted missed grabs, its ability to detect and fix its own mistakes shows the growing reliability of AI-assisted procedures. With regulators expected to weigh in heavily before human applications, researchers plan to move next toward testing in live animals. The long-term goal? Safer, more precise surgeries that reduce complication rates and ease strain on surgical teams.
source
Journal reference: Ji Woong (Brian) Kim. Science Robotics. 10 (4). SRT-H: A hierarchical framework for autonomous surgery via language-conditioned imitation learning
