Itʼs a well-depicted scene: a skilled surgeon is performing delicate open-heart surgery in an amphitheatre filled with esteemed colleagues and eager-to-learn residents. The lights illuminating the procedure are bright and hot, calling forth small beads of sweat on the surgeonʼs forehead. The doctor says: “Scalpel.” Only instead of human hands itʼs two robotic arms that extend a tray of tools in response to the surgeonʼs request. No, this is not a summer sci-fi blockbuster, but rather whatʼs happening in Chinaʼs foremost medical research institutions, and in full practice at Beijingʼs General Navy Hospital where robots are the first ones to crack open skulls for brain surgery.