At which point from testing with non-animals do you go from simulated surgeries with robots to actual surgeries though? I don't want it being done unethically, but how do you promote the effort / research ethically?
Welcome to the central tension in ethics! Where is the line and why?
At some point you have to rip out the bandaid, if they did everything possible before operating on actual test subjects, then I don't personally have an issue.