medical science

Robotics has led to a massive shift in the way we interact and also our daily lives. We are driven by modern technologies. Every day we come across discoveries that push us automatically towards the future. This future is mainly driven by robotics where the majority of the world is done by robots. The healthcare industry is at a crucial juncture in the field of medical robotics. There has been a lot of development in the healthcare industries brought in by robotics. Let's have a look at the latest innovations in medical science brought in by robotics.

Actuated and Sensory Prostheses

The field of prosthetics has advanced so much in the past few years that the question is no longer, “can we make a suitable replacement for a limb,” but rather, “can we make something even better than nature.” At the MIT Biomechatronics lab, researchers have created gyroscopically actuated robotic limbs that are capable of tracking their position in three-dimensional space and adjusting their joints upwards of 750 times per second. On top of this, they have developed bionic skins and neural implant systems that interface with the nervous system, allowing the user to receive tactile feedback from the prosthetic and volitionally control it as you would a normal limb.

DaVinci

It is the most ubiquitous of medical robots and is the standard for Robot-Assisted Surgeries. This is a machine that blurs the line between the “medical tool” and “robot” since the device is under the full control of the surgeon. However, the advancements it has fostered are simply astounding. Using the DaVinci robotic system, the operations can be performed with just a few tiny incisions and with absolute precision, which means less bleeding, reduced risk of infection, and faster healing. While the DaVinci robot has been around for a while now, it continues to become more advanced. Although, the big tech firms are quick on their heels to develop similar DaVinci systems with more autonomous features with a wide range of abilities. Let us wait to watch what’s next in this field.

Endoscopy-Bot

An endoscopy is a procedure where a small camera on a long wire is inserted into the body through a “natural opening” to search for damage, foreign objects, or traces of a disease. It’s an uncomfortable and delicate procedure that might also be a thing of the past. New improvements to the procedure by companies like Medineering make use of slender, flexible robots that can be driven like an RC car to the exact spot the doctor needs. They can then hold there without the tremor of human hands, and deploy a wide range of tools for anything from taking a biopsy to cauterizing a wound. Even more impressive are so-called “capsule endoscopies” where the procedure is boiled down to the simple act of swallowing a pill-sized robot that travels along your digestive tract, gathering data, and taking pictures that can be sent directly to a processor for diagnostics.

Orthoses

The robotic exoskeletons have more medical applications than superheroes. For starters, they are used to help people with paralysis to walk again, which is nothing short of a miracle, but a significant breakthrough. They can also be used for fixing rehabilitation or malformations after a spinal cord or brain injury by providing weak muscles with the extra support they need to perform the movements and heal the damage. The exoskeletons work through a combination of pre-set and input movements, however, with developments in neural interfaces. It is a matter of time before a direct mind-controlled exoskeleton is available, widely similar to an Iron Man.

Targeted Therapy Micro-robot

Although relatively new, this is a highly promising type of medical robot. They use near-microscopic mechanical particles to locally deliver a drug or other therapy to a specific target site within the body. This could be used to deliver radiation directly to a tumor or to reduce the side effects of the medication by confining it to the organ where it is needed.

Disinfectant Bots

The truth about hospitals is that they are extremely dirty places. Patients may go there for treatment but at times, might leave with newer sicknesses. However, hospitals administer large amounts of antibiotics which can become a breeding ground for some of the worst antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Therefore, hospital rooms must be kept clean at all times. However, it is never the case since the lazy and error-prone humans are bound to make mistakes which the robots will not. New disinfecting robots move autonomously to the empty patient’s room and bombard the room with high-powered UV rays as programmed until no microorganism is left alive.

Companion Robots

Not all medical issues are life-threatening that are fixed by robots. The fact is there are millions of elderly, mentally disabled, or infirm people who suffer from chronic loneliness and lack stimulation. Such patients also tend to be people who require periodic check-ups by caretakers that can be time-consuming. Companion bots address both the issues and are having life-changing effects on the patients. Consider them like a Tamagachi meeting Alexa which can call an ambulance if someone falls.

Telepresence Robot Surrogates

We have probably seen a telepresence surrogate before as a joke on a TV show or in a trendy start-up office. These have found a key role in the medical field as a way to bring top doctors and diagnostic expertise to underserved communities and far-flung parts of the world. Doctors in New York are now able to speak with patients and local physicians in rural India, sharing their knowledge and consulting on diagnoses in real-time for a fraction of the cost and effort of having to travel there in person. 

Robotic Nurses

Nurses are the life and integral miracle workforce, and the lifeline of any medical world. However, they are also overworked and always short on time. This is where the robotic nurses come to the rescue. Robotic nurses are systems that can take measurements of vital signs, fill out digital paperwork, and monitor a patient’s condition. Some of these robotic nurses are focused on menial tasks which the nurses get stuck with and are slow like moving gurneys and carts from room to room and even drawing blood.

Robotic-Assisted Biopsy

This is a very cool and potentially life-saving advancement led by a project called MURAB (MRI and Ultrasound Robotic Assisted Biopsy.) It is a minimally invasive technique for early cancer diagnoses where a robotically steered transducer is guided to a biopsy site by a novel MRI/Ultrasound combination technique. It then scans the target to get overall data on it and then a surgeon can pick from the 3D image created exactly where they want to get a biopsy from. Then the robot just backs out the same way it came in, leaving the patient with little more than a paper cut.