Samsung Medical Center will build a platform to support the development and commercialization of artificial intelligence (AI)-based surgical robots.
Samsung Medical Center said on the 28th that it was finally selected as the lead organization for the Ministry of Health and Welfare's "AI-based surgical robot innovation lab establishment and utilization project." Through this project, the hospital plans to receive about 10 billion won in government funding over the next five years and move to build a development and validation framework for AI surgical robots.
The project is part of the Ministry of Health and Welfare's "first 2026 health and medical technology research and development project," aimed at securing future growth engines in the biohealth sector.
Through the project, Samsung Medical Center plans to identify unmet needs in surgical settings and build an "AI-based surgical robot innovation lab" that enables rapid validation and feedback in real clinical environments.
The hospital will collaborate with robotics corporations Rainbow Robotics, E-ROBE, and Roen Surgical. It will also form a consortium with institutions in AI and robotics, including Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), and Tomorrow Robotics, to jointly promote development, technological advancement, and productization of surgical robots based on embodied AI (Embodied AI). Healthcare UI/UX specialist HaHaeHo will also participate.
The project will be led by Chung Yong-gi, a professor of otolaryngology at Samsung Medical Center. Chung will oversee the establishment of the "AURORA lab (AI-Unified Robotics & Operative Research Accelerator Lab)," which supports the advancement and commercialization of AI-based surgical robot technologies.
Within the AURORA lab, Samsung Medical Center will build dedicated research facilities and a validation environment for surgical robots, and a dedicated team will support the entire pre-commercialization process, including prototype performance verification, safety evaluation, and usability evaluation.
During phase one through 2028, the hospital will focus on building research facilities specialized for surgical robots, advancing AI technologies, developing prototypes and verifying performance, and securing patents. In phase two, running from 2029 to 2030, the goal is to raise the technology readiness level (TRL) of AI-based surgical robots to level 8, the stage just before commercialization. After that, the plan is to pursue approvals from domestic and overseas regulatory agencies and evaluations for innovative medical technologies to connect through to deployment in actual medical settings.
Chung Yong-gi, a professor of otolaryngology at Samsung Medical Center, said, "There have been difficulties in identifying unmet needs in clinical settings, providing validation advice, and supporting approvals in the development process of surgical robots," and added, "With the hospital at the center, we will solve these issues and serve as a forward base for technological advancement so that AI surgical robots can take root in actual medical settings."
Heo Woo-sung, head of the Future Medicine Research Institute and vice president for research at Samsung Medical Center (professor of nephrology), said, "By combining Samsung Medical Center's clinical capabilities with advanced technologies, we will create momentum for a leap forward in Korea's medical robot industry," and added, "We will bolster research infrastructure support so we can play a pivotal role across development and validation of medical robots, including surgical robots."