Although surgical robotic technology has been widely adopted in adult surgery, traditional robotics systems often struggle to meet the unique demands of pediatric clinical practice due to children's delicate anatomy and restricted surgical spaces. To overcome this technological bottleneck, the National Center for Children's Health (Beijing Children's Hospital) has established an in-depth strategic cross-disciplinary medical-engineering collaboration with Shurui® Robot.  The goal of this partnership is clear: through close strategic cooperation, to develop robotic technology better suited to children's physiological characteristics, validate its clinical value in complex pediatric surgeries, and ultimately provide young patients with more precise, minimally invasive, and safer treatment options.  

The core driving force behind this collaboration is a key municipal-level research project in Beijing: "Demonstration Application Study of the Single-Port Laparoscopic Surgical System in Pediatric Surgery". This project is not merely a technology development initiative but a model of deep synergy between research translation and clinical implementation. Through this project, the research team has constructed a comprehensive Health Technology Assessment (HTA) framework. It conducts thorough scientific evaluations based on safety and efficacy metrics (such as surgical precision, incision size, and pain assessment) combined with economic factors (including surgical costs and societal benefits). This model of "research enabling implementation, and implementation feeding back to research" ensures that technological improvements precisely address clinical pain points, creating a closed-loop translation from laboratory data to real-world clinical evidence.  

Regarding clinical breakthroughs, the project team has achieved significant results in pediatric urology using the Shurui "Single-Port Thoracoabdominal Endoscopic Surgical System (SR-ENS-600)". The research team not only validated the system's reliability in various complex procedures—including pyeloplasty, the Lich-Gregoir procedure and modified Lich-Gregoir procedure, and heminephrectomy for duplex kidneys—but also proposed China's first series of diagnostic and treatment standards specifically for single-port robotic surgery. By transforming single-center surgical experience into quantifiable and generalizable clinical evidence, the project has both enhanced the standardization of pediatric surgical care and provided robust data support for the transition of domestic high-end medical equipment from "import dependence" to "independent innovation," achieving cross-generational product upgrades.  

Throughout this research project, the Shurui® single-port surgical robot has demonstrated exceptional performance in numerous challenging surgeries, leveraging its minimally invasive advantages tailored to pediatric patients. In the treatment of a 15-year-old patient with left hydronephrosis, the surgeon performed remote manipulation through a tiny umbilical incision. The estimated intraoperative blood loss was a mere 3 ml, and the postoperative incision was aesthetically pleasing and concealed, fully demonstrating the precision of robots in delicate tissue dissection and reconstruction.  

The system also excelled in more complex challenges. For a 12-year-old patient diagnosed with a massive right renal tumor measuring approximately 14 cm (including associated tissues), surgical exposure was extremely difficult, the tumor was highly vascularized, and the surgical risk was exceptionally high. During the delicate operative maneuvers, the Shurui® Robot assisted the surgeons in successfully completing the tumor resection; the surgeon only had to extend the incision postoperatively to extract the tumor. The successful completion of this surgery once again validated the system's stability and practicality in addressing extremely difficult pediatric procedures.  

As the lead institution for this project, Beijing Children's Hospital is a premier institution in China's pediatric field and consistently bears the industry responsibility of promoting the standardized adoption of advanced technologies. By developing a standardized training program on single-port robotic surgery for pediatric surgical staff, the hospital has established a comprehensive pre-service training system to ensure the high-quality completion of each surgery. Furthermore, leveraging a close-knit pediatric healthcare network, Beijing Children's Hospital actively conducts remote surgical tele-education, disseminating leading robotic surgical techniques to primary-level facilities. This aims to accelerate the widespread adoption of robotic surgery technology through standardized system building and benefit more children across different regions.  

At the end of December 2025, the Shurui® Robot achieved commercial deployment at Beijing Children's Hospital. This milestone marks the transition of the strategic partnership from research demonstration to a comprehensive clinical application phase. The core significance of this commercial deployment lies in proving that the domestically developed single-port robotics system possesses fully mature market service capabilities and exceptional clinical value. This not only significantly enhances the economic and societal benefits of large-scale medical equipment but also ushers in a new era where domestically developed high-end surgical robots comprehensively replace imported devices.  

The Shurui® Surgical Robot with Snake-like Instruments, as an original Chinese single-port system, perfectly adapts to children's narrow anatomical structures due to its unique single-incision design and highly flexible instruments. It has now become the preferred platform for minimally invasive surgery at numerous leading children's hospitals across China.  

To date, the system has achieved large-scale application at national and regional children's medical centers, including the Shanghai Children's Medical Center and the Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, reaching a milestone of 200 surgeries annually. This marks its entry into a mature phase of clinical promotion. In clinical practice, the Shurui® Robot has not only successfully pioneered several new pediatric robotic surgical procedures but has also completed numerous technically demanding cases, including the youngest patient globally (only 7 days old at the time of surgery), demonstrating the feasibility of ultra-precise manipulation in infants. Additionally, it is the world's first and only Chinese single-port surgical robot to obtain EU CE certification explicitly covering pediatric surgical indications, solidifying its leading international position in this field.  

The medical-engineering integration practice between Shurui® Robot and Beijing Children's Hospital provides a valuable model for the independent innovation of high-end medical equipment. By focusing on the clinical benefits for pediatric patients throughout their lifespan, the partnership has not only resolved critical "bottleneck" technological challenges but has also established a technical benchmark in the global pediatric surgery field. Looking ahead, both parties will continue to deepen innovation, leading transformative advancements in global pediatric surgical robotics and ensuring that more children benefit from the health advantages brought by technological progress.