China’s medical AI breaks ground as surgical robot wins EU approval, model tops benchmark

Medical AI from China has reached new milestones, with a teleoperated surgical robot gaining access to the European Union market and a clinical-grade model topping a major healthcare benchmark developed by OpenAI.

Shanghai MicroPort MedBot said its Toumai Remote robot, which allowed surgeons to remotely conduct laparoscopic surgeries, had received the “CE mark” from the European Union, a mandatory requirement to enter the market, according to its Hong Kong stock exchange filing on Monday.

The company said it was “the first remote surgical robot to obtain the CE mark”. The qualification indicated that a product met the requirements set out in EU rules allowing it to be “moved and marketed freely in the EU” regardless of where it was manufactured, according to the EU website.

According to MedBot, the Toumai robot consisted of three main components – a surgeon console, a patient cart and a vision cart. By integrating the latest 5G technology, it enabled remote procedures in urology, general surgery, thoracic surgery, and gynaecology.

Before the EU approval, the system was used in the UK, completing the country’s first robotic telesurgery, according to a BBC report in March. It enabled a London surgeon to remotely perform a prostate removal on a cancer patient in Gibraltar, some 2,400 kilometres (1,490 miles) away, according to the report.

Shanghai-based MedBot had delivered over 300 Toumai units across more than 60 markets worldwide, according to a post on its WeChat account on Monday.