10 More Robots That Could Change Healthcare
These medical robots bring fresh ideas to healthcare. Ready to see one at your local hospital?
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I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords. Still, as they infiltrate everything from our assembly lines to our living rooms, robots can be just a little disconcerting. Now they plan to conquer the hospital. The first time a robot crawls down your throat or carries you from your bed, you'll likely panic. But before you enlist to fight against the robot threat, remember their purpose -- robots go where we can't, either because of danger or physical limitations. So, before they end up taking over the planet and enslaving humans, they are going to do some amazing things to save our lives.
In fact, robots and medicine go so well together this isn't the first medical robot slideshow we've done. Back in 2012, we covered robots that could do anything from reminding you to take a pill to scraping plaque off your arteries. We showcased more medical robots last year. We just can't get enough.
And for good reason. The medical robot field is growing exponentially. The current $1.7 billion medical robot market is expected to rise to more than $3.7 billion by 2018. And this does not include robots in fire and rescue, military training, and robots designed to improve home life.
It is difficult to estimate just how many robots are wandering the halls of our local hospitals, because it depends on how you define robot. For instance, at least 800 hospitals use telepresence robots. These are rolling devices controlled by doctors and equipped with cameras and tools to allow for remote consultations. There are also "robot surgeons" like the da Vinci, which also require a human to operate them remotely. Both of these are innovative, but they aren't robots so much as remotely operated machines. We wouldn't call a remote control toy car a robot.
For the purpose of this slideshow, we're going to focus more on robots that aren't fancy remote controls for doctors. And when we do talk about remote vehicles, they will include novel approaches that are just too good to ignore. (Spoiler: Doctors use robot "maggots" to drill into your head and eat tumors.)
These amazing robots will do everything from clearing cancerous tumors to helping amputees learn to play music again. They perform more mundane tasks, as well, such as helping patients take medicine, and even throwing up. Why do we need a robot that throws up? You'll have to click through the slideshow to find out. But I promise you'll see a set of really exciting ideas.
Jibo is one of a new generation of "social robots" developed by Cynthia Breazeal and the MIT Media Lab. Jibo, a tiny "family robot," seems inspired more by R2-D2 than the Terminator. Jibo sings, dances, and tells stories to help calm patients, especially children, because calmer patients often have better outcomes. It can also remind patients to take their medicine, help them get up and walk around, and even encourage them to exercise. Other social robots will help facilitate learning, especially with learning-delayed or disabled children. Think Teddy Ruxpin on steroids.
Riba, a Japanese robot, aims to help with elder care. Japan has one of the largest aging populations in the world, so this is incredibly important. Designed to be nonthreatening in appearance, Riba lifts elderly patients out of bed, so their linens can be changed, among other tasks. As important and difficult a task as this is, I'm still not sure what patients suffering from dementia would think of a six-foot-tall robot bear lifting them out of bed. Riba has gone through several iterations and likely will go through more before being put to heavy use.
Most robots use motors. Bio-bot is designed to use muscles. Using a new material called hydrogel, these muscles move more or less like yours or mine. That makes them more efficient and easier to design than a series of motors, which have limited range of motion and direction. Bio-bot itself won't appear in a hospital anytime soon, but what we're learning from it is likely to affect the next two robots on the list.
Soon people in need of physical therapy will find themselves strapped into an exoskeleton that not will only move their body for them, but also will have sensors to determine pain level, range of motion, and even brain activity. The exoskeleton designed at the University of California, Santa Cruz can already simulate 95% of the movement of a healthy human arm, but it is bulky. Adding the Bio-bot muscles would make it smaller and could help it find that 5% of human movement it can't yet reproduce. There is something about the heavy metal look of the current exoskeleton that makes it seem a bit like a superhero.
Meka Robotics has designed a prosthetic arm for a drummer who lost his arm. The prosthetic is superior to others made for musicians, since it has the control and range of motion to recreate human movement. How is this a robot and not just an awesome prosthetic? The arm gets a third stick of its own. And it listens to the music you are playing and gets involved. It can actually improvise along with the music you play. Some might find it a bit creepy for body parts to have a mind of their own, but until we perfect mind-controlled (and natural movement) prosthetics, having them anticipate your needs might be the next best thing. Still, I'm not sure how to perfect this. The best part about these things is the reminder of the old doctor joke -- Doctor, when this operation is over, will I be able to play the violin? Of course. Good, because I've never played it before.
Perhaps the most important thing robots can do is provide training. One of the rarest and most valuable gifts for doctors is hands-on training. Here we have two robots taking two different strategies to providing that training. Researchers at Japan's Gifu University have invented a haptic training robot that simulates the feel of actual exams. Right now, it is designed to simulate the feeling of a breast exam. Using hydrogel (there is that magical substance again), the robot manipulates the students' hands to show them the best way to look for lumps in the breast. Obviously, if it is accurate enough, this is life-saving information, and it reduces the need to find volunteers to allow scores of medical students touch them in intimate areas. On the other end of the spectrum is Kernerworks Traumasim (pictured), a robot that simulates a human multi-amputee trauma victim. Unlike a haptic device, Traumasim attempts to create a human-like robot to be used for practice. It screams and shows pain. It bleeds. It breathes, and it responds to treatment. Sadly, the need for this training is huge.
Not all robots are here to save humanity. Some are designed just to make us look better. Take Artas, the hair transplant robot. It harvests living hair from your body -- a painstaking and difficult task to do well -- so that a doctor can transplant the living hair into your bald spots. Robots can hopefully prevent horror scenes like the one above. They are also expected to play a heavy role in reconstructive plastic surgery, because small robotic tools leave less scarring. Personally, I want Artas to have hair of its own, so it can say that he's not only the surgeon, but he's also a client.
I hope you aren't eating. A pair of new robots have found the grossest way yet of helping humans. Researchers at the University of Maryland are working on a robot inspired by maggots that will bore gently through your skull, worm into your brain, and "eat" your brain tumor from the inside out. And researchers at Singapore National University Hospital have invented a robot-assisted surgery inspired by crabs. The robot will go down your throat and into your stomach and remove stomach cancer with its claws. Tiny robot maggots in my skull -- what could possibly go wrong?
Since I've already got you a little grossed out, it seems only fitting that I show Vomiting Larry. Quite simply, this robot throws up on command. Its job: Track how Norovirus spreads. Larry does a pretty credible job of upchucking all over the place, as seen in this video. We've also got robots that poop. Why is all this necessary? Well, the pooping robot is actually excreting waste from its own fuel, but the purpose of these biomechanical robots is to learn more about our bodies. No scientist really wants to go around following after people throwing up or pooping just to see how it works. Creating a reliable substitute for lab conditions helps. Of course, if we've got robots that poop and barf, we're going to need robots that mop and change diapers.
Have you ever gone to get blood drawn and had the technician miss a vein and have to try again? Even if you haven't, how long did it take to get a blood draw? Five or ten minutes while the technician looked for the right vein and then drew the blood? Imagine that multiplied by tens of thousands of blood draws per day across hospitals, clinics, and research facilities. Wouldn't it be nice to have a machine that could do it faster, more comfortably, and safer? Veebot is produced by a startup, which claims the robot can use imaging technology to find the right vein, draw the blood, and mark for the lab far faster than any human. It can also start IVs. This kind of practical, simple machine is doing the kind of transformative mission that could change healthcare. Still, I think we're going to have get over some horror show fantasies before we're willing to strap ourselves in to the blood sucking machine.
Of course, the robot that might make the biggest impact in medicine might be this golfing robot. At least, if the doctor can't get out there, he can always send this robot to the course.
What do you think? Do you think you'll see any of these robots in your hospital in the near future? Which one excites or scares you the most? Comment below.
Of course, the robot that might make the biggest impact in medicine might be this golfing robot. At least, if the doctor can't get out there, he can always send this robot to the course.
What do you think? Do you think you'll see any of these robots in your hospital in the near future? Which one excites or scares you the most? Comment below.
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