Medical Robots (AI)

If the idea of machines conducting surgery has you imagining nightmare scenarios out
of Alien movies, guess what? Robots have been conducting surgery on people for years.
From spine to endovascular procedures, machines have reduced the room for error in
operations and are poised to get even more sophisticated in the year ahead. As
those from the Cleveland Clinic put it, “Continued advancement in the field has led to
more precise and effective surgeries with improved surgical outcomes,” and they expect
it to be one of the medical advances in 2019.
We are at a crucial juncture in the field of robotics. We stand at the cusp of a massive
shift in the way that we interact with the world and go about our daily lives. Every day,
new discoveries are being made that push us inevitably toward a future where the
majority of work is done not by us mere humans, but by robots instead.
The rise of automation and the replacement of the working class by machinery is not
something that is necessarily “new”. It’s an issue as old as the concept of technology
that has really begun to rear its head in the last half-century or so.
But while many focus on the effects automation has on factory workers and unskilled
laborers, it was generally thought that people with high-skill careers, such as doctors,
would be safe from the coming rise of the machines. Turns out, that may not be the
case.
That’s right. Robotics experts have set their sights on the medical field. Many believe
that an autonomous robot could soon be a regular member of any hospital’s medical
staff, performing duties from taking a patient’s pulse and scanning vital signs, to reading
case notes or even performing surgery!
And even if developments like that are farther in the future than experts predict,
doctor-controlled robots already have a massive presence in the medical field, and
demand for the less invasive, more patient-tailored procedures that can be
accomplished with them is only growing.
1. daVinci
We begin with perhaps the most ubiquitous of medical robots, and the standard for
Robot Assisted Surgery.
This is a machine that blurs the line between “robot” and “medical tool” since the
device is always under the full control of the surgeon, but the advancements it has
fostered are astounding.
Using the daVinci system, operations can be done with just a few tiny incisions and with
the utmost precision, which means less bleeding, faster healing, and a reduced risk of
infection.
And while daVinci has been around for almost eighteen years now, it has continued to
get more and more advanced, but with big tech companies quick on daVinci’s heels to
develop similar systems with more autonomous features and a wider range of abilities,
who knows what’s next in this field.
2. 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 own 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 with a normal limb.
This is a monumental leap forward in the unification of man and machine, and a great
source of relief for the over 2 million amputees in the US alone.
3. Endoscopy-Bot
An endoscopy is a procedure where a small camera or tool on a long wire is shoved into
the body through a “natural opening” to a search for damage, foreign objects, or traces
of 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.
4. Orthoses (AKA Exoskeletons)
We all want to be Iron Man at least a little bit, but robotic exoskeletons have more
medical applications than superhero ones.
For starters, they are being used to help paralyzed people walk again, which is nothing
short of a miracle.
They can also be useful for correcting malformations or for rehabilitation after a brain or
spinal cord injury by providing weak muscles with the extra help they need to perform
movements and begin healing the damage.
Most of these exoskeletons work through a combination of user input and pre-set
movements, but with advancements in neural interfaces, it is only a matter of time
before a directly mind-controlled exoskeleton is widely available.
5. Targeted therapy micro-robot
These are highly promising, though relatively new types of medical robots. The basics of
how they work is to use near-microscopic mechanical particles to localize a drug or
other therapy to a specific target site within the body.
This could be used to deliver radiation to a tumor, or simply to reduce side effects of a
medication by confining it to the organ where it might be needed.
What’s really interesting here though is HOW the particles get to the target. There are a
variety of possible methods, but new research has generated micro-bots with tiny,
helical tails that can be directed by magnetic fields to spin themselves forward through
blood vessels to a specific spot in the body. NEAT!
6. Disinfectant bots
The unfortunate truth is that hospitals are extremely dirty places. You may go there for
treatment only to leave with an entirely new sickness.
And since hospitals routinely administer large amounts of antibiotics, they can become a
breeding ground for some of the worst antibiotic-resistant bacteria around.
That’s why it’s so important that hospital rooms be clean, but why leave that cleaning
up to lazy, error-prone humans when a robot will do?
Modern disinfecting robots move autonomously to rooms of patients being discharged
then bombard the empty room with high-powered UV rays for several minutes until no
microorganism is left alive.
7. Clinical Training Bots
Imagine the game Operation, only life-sized, with realistic blood-action, and instead of
losing you just fail out of med-school. That’s basically what clinical training bots are.
8. Companion bots
Not all the medical problems robots can fix have to be life-threatening. The fact is that
there are millions of elderly, infirm, or mentally disabled people in the world who suffer
from chronic loneliness and lack stimulation.
These patients also tend to be people who require regular check-ups from caretakers,
which can be very time-consuming. Companion robots solve both of these problems at
once, and are truly making life better for a lot of people.
Think of them like a Tamagachi-meets-Alexa that can also call an ambulance if you fall
down.
9. Telepresence Robot Surrogates
You have probably seen a telepresence surrogate before as the butt of a joke on a TV
show or in a trendy start-up office. They look like iPads set on top of a mini Segway,
which is inherently silly.
But the truth is that they 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. So, silly as it may seem, it’s
entirely possible that your next annual check-up might be with a remote-
controlled tablet instead of a physical person.
10. Robotic nurses
Nurses are miracle workers, and the true life-blood of any medical setting. But they are
also hopelessly overworked and chronically short on time. That’s where robotic nurses
come in.
For the most part, these are systems that can fill out digital paperwork, take
measurements of vital signs, and monitor a patient’s condition.
Some new robotic nurses through have taken aim at other menial tasks that nurses get
stuck with like moving carts and gurneys from room to room or even drawing blood!
11. Pharma-Botics
Think of this basically as a really big vending machine—but for drugs! Honestly, this is
one of those inventions where you hear about it and think, “Oh yeah, it’s not like I need
a physical person to count out and hand me the pills my doctor prescribed. How come
that doesn’t exist yet?” Well, it exists now!
A proof of concept pharmacy has been operating flawlessly at University of California,
San Francisco, for almost five years and more have been approved for hospital use in
the last ten months.
12. AI diagnostics
This is perhaps the task in which robots can do the most for medicine. Using a technique
known as “machine learning”, scientists can train an AI to perform a task better than a
human by essentially providing it with thousands of examples.
The uses for this kind of tool in diagnostics is far-reaching but there are a couple worth
noting, such as the FDNA system which uses facial recognition software to screen
patients for over 8000 diseases and rare genetic disorders with a scarily high degree of
accuracy.
Or the New York University team that created an AI capable of scanning thousands of
medical documents to pinpoint patients at risk of developing diabetes, heart failure, or
stroke. So far it has never been wrong. Clearly robots are just better at giving a
diagnosis.
13. Robotic Assisted Biopsy
This is a very cool and potentially life-saving advancement lead 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.
14. AI epidemiology
Robots are SUPER good at seeing patterns and making predictions from data that would
be simply overwhelming to humans, which is why epidemiology was a logical target for
a new AI system.
These body-less robots analyze data on disease outbreaks from doctors on the ground
and cross references that with all available medical databases to predict when and
where an outbreak is happening, as well as how to keep it from spreading.
15. Antibacterial nanorobots
Last but not least, we come to the robot with undoubtedly the coolest name EVER. But
what they do is even cooler.
Antibacterial nanorobots are tiny machines made of gold nanowires (bling-bling) and
coated with platelets and red blood cells that can actually clear bacterial infections
directly from a patient’s blood.
They do this by basically mimicking a bacterium (and its toxin’s) target, then ensnaring
them in their nanowire mesh when the bacteria gets near.
They can even be directed through a patient’s body with targeted ultrasounds to speed
up the clearance process and to treat localized infections.
Best of all, because they take advantage of the bacteria’s natural responses to clear
them from the system, nanorobots can potentially be used in place of broad-spectrum
antibiotics which could have an immense impact in our fight against the rise of
antibiotic-resistant diseases.
My Reflection

Robotic systems employed in the laboratory, in rehabilitation, and in surgery are

reviewed. The advantages of using a robot system over manual procedures in the
laboratory to prepare samples is discussed, and some of the obstacles are noted. A
typical laboratory robot is described. Rehabilitative applications in the major research
areas of tactile sensors, assistive devices for the blind, prosthetics, and orthotics are
examined. Manipulators that can help a disabled individual with important everyday
tasks and other assistive robotic systems in rehabilitation are described. A variety of
robots that assist or perform surgery is surveyed. These applications include positioning
in stereotactic neurosurgery, patient manipulation, an in vivo spinal kinematic
instrument, and robotic radial keratotomy, among others.
The use and demand for robotic medical and surgical platforms is increasing and new
technologies are continually being developed. New technologies are increasingly
implemented to improve on the capabilities of previously established systems. Future
studies are needed to further evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each robotic
surgical device and platform in the operating suite.
Advantages
There are lots of advantages with medical robots, and here, I will tell you some of them.

- One advantage is that patient recovery is quick. On average, patients leave the hospital
two to five days earlier than patients who have had traditional surgery. Also, most
patients return to normal activity 50% more quickly. Smaller recovery times are not only
better for the patient, it also means that less staff is needed before surgery, during
surgery, and after surgery. Because of that, the cost of being in hospital is lowered.

- Another advantage is that robot-assisted surgery gives the surgeon better control over
the instruments and a better view. Because of this, surgeons don't have to stand all
of the time during the surgery and do not get tired as quickly.

- Also, robots do not make the same mistakes that humans can make. Robots are
extremely more exact, and they do not move by accident during the surgery. This could
also make patients feel less worried before surgery.
Disadvantages

- There are also some disadvantages with using medical robots for surgery. Here are
some of them.

- One of these disadvanages is that it costs more to use a medical robot during surgery.
The cost of the robot is $1,390,000 dollars and an additional $1,500 per procedure. This
is much more expensive than not using a medical robot.

- Another disadvantage is that even more training is needed to operate the system.
Critics of the system say that it is difficult for surgeons who are learning to use the
system. This is because those who want to become surgeons also have to learn
traditional surgery, as well as now learning how to use medical robots. Of course, they
don't have to, but most people want to learn, since otherwise, they will most likely have
to learn later in their career.
We do not know what will happen to the future if these things will conquer the field of
medical, replace the position of laborers, enhance the life of the patient, the worse
thing is if it will be replace by all robots. At some point we do need doctors and nurses
all over the world, but we cannot expect for everything because science is progressing
and sometimes science is unpredictable. Well we are in the world of technologies
something will happen in the future we cannot predict the upcoming cause and effect of
these technologies.
Is this the beginning of a robot apocalypse?
Can these robots make us immortal?
But what this mean is that the medical field is on the brink of sweeping changes that
could mean better diagnostics, safer less invasive surgery, shorter waiting times,
reduced infection rates, and increased long-term survival rates for everyone. And that is
definitely something to be excited about.