How far are vision-free medical robots from achieving trustworthy embodied intelligence?

Embodied Intelligence (EI) is rapidly reshaping the field of robotic surgery, enabling unprecedented levels of clinical precision while liberating surgeons from excessive cognitive and physical burdens. However, for "vision-free" surgical robots incapable of integrating direct visual sensing-such as endovascular robots and untethered swarms-their persistent reliance on external medical imaging fundamentally impedes their evolution toward safe and trustworthy EI-surgery.