Seoul surgeon operates robot in Shanghai 870 km away in Korea's first cross-border telesurgery
A Korea University Anam Hospital urologist operated a surgical robot in Shanghai from a console in Seoul, about 870 km away, on Oct 16, the hospital said on Oct 19, calling it the first cross-border remote surgery from Korea on a commercial robot platform.
The robot was MicroPort MedBot's Toumai and the patient an animal model; network, latency and procedure were not disclosed.
A urologist sitting at a console in Seoul operated a surgical robot in Shanghai, about 870 km away, on Oct 16, Korea University Anam Hospital said on Oct 19. The hospital called it the first cross-border remote surgery performed from Korea on a commercial surgical robot platform. The robot was Toumai, made by China's MicroPort MedBot, and the patient was an animal.
The demonstration matters less for what it proved medically than for who supplied the machine. A Chinese robot maker that has made remote surgery its main selling point now has a leading Korean surgeon showing it off at Korea's national urology congress, in a market where Intuitive's da Vinci sets the standard.
What the Seoul surgeon actually did
Prof. Kang Seok-ho of the hospital's urology department operated the Toumai console set up at the 78th annual congress of the Korean Urological Association (KUA 2026) at COEX in Seoul. The robot arms were installed in Shanghai and reproduced his hand movements in real time, the hospital said in a statement carried by Korean media; the release has not been posted on its website. The procedure was performed on an animal model, which keeps it at the preclinical stage. The hospital did not disclose the network used, the signal delay, the type of operation or the animal species.
Kang said the test confirmed that remote control ran stably in a surgical setting across the distance between the two countries, and that the technology could one day serve ships, polar stations or the International Space Station. He also said wider use would need cross-border agreement on patient safety, legal liability for treatment across borders, cybersecurity and procedures for communication failures. Kang heads the Korean Society of Endourology and Robotics, the hospital said.
Telesurgery is MicroPort's chosen weapon
Remote surgery is not new. The hospital itself pointed to the 2001 operation in which surgeons in New York operated on a patient in France, 25 years ago. What has changed is that a listed company now sells it as a product. In its 2025 results, which MEKAWIRE covered in March, MicroPort MedBot said its Toumai Remote system was approved in about 10 countries, including China, India and Brazil, and that close to 800 remote procedures had been carried out across more than 20 countries. Toumai had about 220 cumulative orders and more than 140 installations in over 50 countries and regions, and overseas sales were 72.6% of 2025 revenue of RMB551.1 million ([MicroPort's 2025 results](/news/microport-medbot-2025-results-revenue-doubles-overseas-73-percent-20260326)).
- Date and venue
- Oct 16, 2026, KUA 2026 congress, COEX, Seoul
- Hospital statement, Oct 19
- Surgeon
- Prof. Kang Seok-ho, urology, Korea University Anam Hospital
- Hospital statement
- Robot
- MicroPort MedBot Toumai, console in Seoul, arms in Shanghai
- Hospital statement
- Distance
- About 870 km in a straight line
- Hospital statement
- Subject
- Animal model (preclinical)
- Hospital statement
- Network, latency, procedure type, animal species
- Not disclosed
- No data
As reported by Medipana, Dong-A Science and SBS from the hospital's Oct 19 statement; the release is not posted on the hospital website.
As of Oct 19, 2026
Still a challenger by two orders of magnitude
Scale is the gap. Intuitive reported 11,710 da Vinci systems installed at the end of June 2026, up to 83.6 times MicroPort's installed Toumai base by MEKAWIRE calculation (11,710 / 140). Edge Medical, the other Hong Kong-listed Chinese challenger, installed or delivered 72 robots in 2025, 50 of them abroad. Korea's own robot surgery maker in our database, Curexo, works in orthopaedics rather than soft-tissue surgery. The MEKAWIRE explainer on the [surgical robot market](/news/surgical-robots-market-2026-explained-11710-da-vinci-systems-8400-surgical-robots-sold-challengers-backed-by-medtech-giants-20261017) sets out the full field.
- Intuitive (US)
- da Vinci
- 11,710 systems installed
- Jun 30, 2026
- MicroPort MedBot (China)
- Toumai
- More than 140 installed in 50+ countries; about 220 orders; close to 800 remote procedures in 20+ countries
- FY2025 results
- Edge Medical (China)
- MP1000 and others
- 72 robots installed or delivered, 50 overseas
- FY2025
- Curexo (Korea)
- CUVIS-joint, CUVIS-spine
- 35,000+ operations supported worldwide (company site)
- Oct 2026
Disclosed figures, not estimates; each company's own definitions. Intuitive base / Toumai installations = 11,710 / 140 = 83.6, an upper bound because MicroPort says more than 140.
As of Oct 19, 2026
MEKAWIRE analysis
We think the Seoul demonstration is a market-entry exhibition for a Chinese robot more than a medical milestone: it puts Toumai's one clear differentiator in front of Korean urologists while the clinical, legal and regulatory path to Korean patients remains unstated.
The evidence is in what was and was not said. The technical claim, stable real-time control over 870 km on an animal, has been shown by MicroPort across many countries already, so the new element is the venue and the surgeon. Neither the hospital nor MicroPort said whether Toumai is approved in Korea or whether any Korean hospital has bought one. The strongest counter-argument is that the hospital's interest is academic: Kang presented the work as feasibility research and named the open legal questions himself.
Bull case: Korean surgeons build experience on Toumai, a Korean approval follows and remote proctoring or training between Korean and Chinese centres becomes a sales channel. Bear case: Korean rules on cross-border medical practice and data, and caution about Chinese medical devices, keep this a one-off congress show.
What would change our view is a Korean regulatory filing for Toumai or a hospital purchase. Signals to watch: MicroPort's next voluntary order update on HKEX; its 2026 annual results, due by the end of March 2027 under Hong Kong listing rules; and any statement from the Korean Urological Association or Korean regulators on telesurgery after the congress.
The open question is whether the next Seoul to Shanghai link carries a human patient.
- MicroPort MedBot Toumai
- Animal model (preclinical)
- Prof. Kang Seok-ho, urology
- About 870 km, Seoul to Shanghai
- Korea University Anam Hospital, Oct 19
- Oct 16, 2026, KUA 2026 congress (COEX, Seoul)
- Network, latency, procedure type
- Close to 800 in 20+ countries (FY2025 results)
Why it matters
By the hospital's account this is the first cross-border operation run from Korea on a commercial robot, and the robot is Chinese. It shows MicroPort MedBot using telesurgery, its main differentiator against Intuitive, to reach Korean surgeons at their national congress.
For Korean hospitals the question is less the technology, which MicroPort says has been used in close to 800 remote procedures, than the rules: liability across borders, data transfer and device approval.
Rival analysis
Intuitive's installed base of 11,710 da Vinci systems (June 30, 2026) is up to 83.6 times Toumai's more than 140 installations. Edge Medical installed or delivered 72 robots in 2025, 50 abroad. Medtronic's Hugo and Johnson & Johnson's Ottava are the Western challengers. In Korea, Curexo sells orthopaedic robots and does not compete in laparoscopic surgery.
MicroPort's edge is the Toumai Remote approvals in about 10 countries.
Valuation context
MicroPort MedBot reported 2025 revenue of RMB551.1 million, up 114.2%, with overseas sales 72.6% of the total and a net loss of RMB254.1 million, per its HKEX results. A Korean placement would be small against that base; the value of the Seoul demonstration is as a reference case rather than revenue.
Supply-chain implications
A remote operation depends on the robot, the console, the network operator and the hospital IT systems at both ends. The hospital did not name the network or telecom partner. Korean telecom operators and hospital IT vendors would be part of any repeat, and cross-border medical data flows bring Korean data-protection rules into play.
Signals to watch
1. A Korean regulatory filing or approval for Toumai. 2. MicroPort's next voluntary order update on HKEX and its 2026 annual results by end-March 2027. 3. Statements from the Korean Urological Association or the health ministry on cross-border telesurgery.
Analyst view
Thesis: a market-entry exhibition, not yet a clinical milestone. Confidence: medium, because the hospital framed the work as research and no commercial terms were disclosed. A Korean approval filing would raise confidence that this is the start of a sales campaign.
Questions you should be asking
Is Toumai approved or under review in Korea? Which network and what latency did the Seoul to Shanghai link use? Did MicroPort fund or organise the demonstration? Does the hospital plan clinical remote cases, and under which legal framework?