The world's first live remote robotic surgery was performed on a Chinese patient in Beijing, by a Chinese doctor in Rome. It was a triumph not only of robotics, but of telecommunications.

It also marks the beginning of a revolution in medicine. Surgeries will be performed by doctors who may be anywhere, on patients who may be anywhere else. But the necessary conditions are Chinese-built robot arms, and highly reliable 5G communications systems, the hardware for which also tends to be Chinese built in most of the world.

The potential military applications of these technologies become readily apparent. Battlefield medicine and search and rescue operations come to mind, as well as combat operations, performed by robots operated via remote control by technicians thousands of miles away.

Resources and links:

South China Morning Post, Chinese doctor performs telesurgery first with Rome-Beijing procedure
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/scien...

Graphic, Network latency in 4G vs 5G systems
https://fiberguide.net/photonic-band-...