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    "story_id": "mp-2026-09-16-010",
    "source_story_id": "tmp-story-occupancy-network-nephrectomy",
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    "headline": "The Surgical Robot Tracked the Phantom After Every Cut",
    "slug": "the-surgical-robot-tracked-the-phantom-after-every-cut",
    "dek": "Eight autonomous phantom resections produced negative margins across 77 cuts, with 1.61-millimeter mean absolute margin error.",
    "summary": "Eight autonomous phantom resections produced negative margins across 77 cuts, with 1.61-millimeter mean absolute margin error.",
    "body_text": "Soft-tissue surgery changes the anatomy the robot is trying to track. This supervised research platform infers complete tumor, margin and kidney geometry from a single partial point cloud, updating its occupancy model as hydrogel tissue deforms and is cut. In eight consecutive open partial-nephrectomy phantom trials, dual robotic arms completed 77 electrosurgical cuts; every cut achieved a negative margin, with 1.61 ± 0.48 millimeters mean absolute margin error. These were patient-derived phantoms in a controlled open setting, not operations on people, and the results do not establish clinical autonomy.",
    "why_it_matters": "Eight autonomous phantom resections produced negative margins across 77 cuts, with 1.61-millimeter mean absolute margin error.",
    "limitations": [
      "These were patient-derived phantoms in a controlled open setting, not operations on people, and the results do not establish clinical autonomy."
    ],
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    "first_published_at": "2026-09-16T09:00:00.000-04:00",
    "modified_at": "2026-09-16T09:00:00.000-04:00",
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        "text": "Eight autonomous phantom resections produced negative margins across 77 cuts, with 1.61-millimeter mean absolute margin error.",
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        "qualification": "These were patient-derived phantoms in a controlled open setting, not operations on people, and the results do not establish clinical autonomy."
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    "source_ids": [
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    "tags": [
      "surgical robotics",
      "3D perception",
      "phantom study"
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  "sources": [
    {
      "source_id": "source-2026-09-16-010",
      "title": "arXiv preprint 2609.16186",
      "publisher": "arXiv",
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      "published_at": "2026-09-14T20:00:00.000-04:00",
      "accessed_at": "2026-09-16T08:18:00.000-04:00",
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    "title": "The Surgical Robot Tracked the Phantom After Every Cut",
    "publisher": "The Machine Press",
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