July 9 (Reuters) - An experimental AI-guided robot can

autonomously perform a delicate, complicated phase of a common

gallbladder operation, marking a major step toward automated

medical procedures, researchers said on Wednesday.

Existing surgical robots are remotely controlled by

surgeons. The new system uses artificial intelligence to make

independent decisions and adapts to unexpected complications

during operations, said Axel Krieger of Johns Hopkins University

in Baltimore, who led the research.

He likened it to an autonomous vehicle that can "navigate

any road, in any condition, responding intelligently to whatever

it encounters."

"This advancement moves us from robots that can execute

specific surgical tasks to ones that truly understand surgical

procedures," he said.

The SRT-H robot was trained via an AI framework known as

language-guided imitation learning, using videos of surgeons

performing gallbladder removal surgeries on pig cadavers, the

researchers reported in Science Robotics.

The robot was tested on eight varying sets of pig

gallbladders and livers that had been removed from the animals.

Separating the gallbladder from the liver takes several

minutes and involves "diverse tool use, including grabbing,

clipping, and cutting - skills common in real surgical

procedures," along with decision-making and adaptation, the

researchers said.

The pig organs and blood vessels in the tests varied widely

in appearance and anatomy, "mirroring the diversity encountered

in human surgeries," they said.

While the robot achieved 100% accuracy in the surgeries, it

took longer to perform the work than a human surgeon.

Commercially available surgical robots include Intuitive

Surgical's ( ISRG ) da Vinci Surgical System, which has been

used in over 12 million procedures globally since receiving FDA

approval in 2000.

Unlike SRT-H, the da Vinci system relies entirely on human

surgeons to control its movements remotely.

The global surgical robotics market is approaching $10

billion annually with about 2.7 million robotic procedures

performed in 2024, Baird analyst David Rescott estimated.

Eventually, autonomous surgical robots could help address

surgeon shortages, minimize human error, and provide consistent,

high-quality care in underserved regions, the researchers said.

The research was supported by the Advanced Research Projects

Agency for Health, the National Science Foundation, and the

National Institutes of Health.