Top Hospital Center Forges Industry Ties to Innovate Medical Robots, Orthopedics Treatment

The National Center for Orthopaedics at Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital confirmed that it is partnering with Unitree Robotics to develop humanoid medical robots with lifelike appearances.

Beyond enhanced mechanical flexibility, the anthropomorphic design aims to foster patient trust and deliver human-centered experiences in clinical settings, center officials told a national seminar on advances in orthopedic clinical research in the city on Saturday.

Though the intelligent robots will support hospital patient transfers and routine medical consultations, researchers emphasized that they cannot fully replace clinicians' empathetic communication and precise, nuanced physical evaluations during rehabilitation procedures.

The collaboration marks a key part of the center's paradigm shift in modern orthopedics, breaking the long-standing stereotype that orthopedics relies solely on surgery. It has built a full-chain, multidisciplinary medical cluster covering orthopedic internal medicine, rehabilitation medicine, pain management, osteoimmunology, and orthopedic infection treatment.

Dr Ma Xin, director of the National Center for Orthopaedics and president of Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital, outlined the future trajectory of global orthopedic development.

"We are witnessing an industry-wide shift. Most common bone and joint disorders can be effectively managed through lifestyle optimization, scientific exercise regimens, and dietary intervention, rather than invasive surgery. In the next decade, regenerative biotherapy and personalized long-term rehabilitation will emerge as the mainstream directions of orthopedic development," he stated.

Ma noted that numerous musculoskeletal conditions, including osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis, require lifelong conservative medical intervention and sustained follow-up care instead of surgical treatment. Postoperative rehabilitation has therefore become an indispensable component of standardized whole-course patient management.

To translate clinical expertise into accessible medical and consumer rehabilitation products, the center has launched extensive industrial cooperation with leading enterprises, including multinational Hai'er and sportswear giant Anta. Joint research covers customized orthopedic insoles, wearable exoskeleton devices, and intelligent humanoid medical robots.

Clinicians provide authentic real-world clinical and rehabilitation data to iteratively optimize equipment design. All newly developed assistive devices undergo rigorous clinical trials with quantitative outcome verification before commercialization, ensuring efficacy grounded in solid medical evidence and avoiding unsubstantiated market promotion.