Robotics and Synthetic Intelligence (AI) should not newbies within the healthcare enterprise. Robotics in healthcare have been round for a lot of a long time now. With the appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of the getting old senior inhabitants, and the healthcare system in disaster mode with a scarcity of suppliers and sources, using AI and robotics in healthcare has garnered extra consideration and is changing into an integral a part of the healthcare system.
Whereas AI and robotics are steadily mentioned in each the enterprise and the hospital administration world, I’ll talk about the rising use of AI and robotics expertise in healthcare from the stakeholder’s perspective.
Commercial
Acceptance and adoption of the robotics system of care
AI and robotics are serving humanity in varied kinds and types. For instance, there are robotic cleaners in accommodations, robotic waiters in eating places, robotic assistants in supermarkets, robots in warehouses to hold heavy a great deal of baggage, and so forth.. All of those have made us people extra accepting of using AI and robotics in our each day lives and have thus made the adoption of robotics for our healthcare extra prevalent.
Whereas acknowledging that there are lots of extra methods AI and robotics have already penetrated into the healthcare system, listed below are three classes of AI and robotics that show the help being offered to healthcare stakeholders, and there’s room for a lot of extra to come back.
1) AI and Robotics helping sufferers
(triage, rehabilitation/exoskeleton)
AI and Robotics have been helping sufferers in varied kinds. There are AI algorithms and robotic techniques that assist triage sufferers and thus assist them navigate to the wanted supplier within the course of. For instance, the Mayo Clinic makes use of AI algorithms that assist triage a affected person.(1) This grew to become all of the extra helpful in the course of the pandemic, when the necessity grew to become extra obvious to implement social distancing.
There are numerous robotic applied sciences within the healthcare market which might be geared towards aiding disabled people from battle zones (e.g., the veteran inhabitants) or attributable to unlucky illnesses or accidents from accidents or crimes. These embody robotic rehabilitation techniques (exoskeletons), particular assistant wheelchairs, and robot-assisted gait coaching that present independence and power to people with disabilities (2). Exoskeleton professional Mathew Marino says, “Whether or not folks prefer it or not, they’re a classy, cool, sci-fi resolution to issues folks can all agree are value fixing. Who doesn’t wish to see exoskeletons like Marvel’s Iron Man or Ripley’s Energy Loader serving to employees handle accidents, serving to paralyzed sufferers stroll, or defending and augmenting troopers?” (3).
2) AI and Robotics helping suppliers
(surgeons)
A robotic system that assists surgeons—the Da Vinci robotic system—has been out there for greater than 20 years now. It began off getting used within the subject of urology (prostate-related surgical procedures) and is advancing quick; it has now penetrated into extra specialties and fields like bariatrics and gynecology. Robotic surgical procedures have revolutionized the normal manner of performing surgical procedures, because it reduces sufferers’ ache and blood loss throughout surgical procedures, together with shorter post-op restoration durations. For surgeons, robotic-assisted surgical procedures give them extra flexibility, precision, and management.
Tele-assistance utilizing AI is one other subject that surgeons are utilizing to coach different surgeons remotely. Different robotics serving to surgeons, embody, however should not restricted to, the MAKO system and ROSA system (4) for orthopedics and neurosurgeries, respectively.
3) AI and Robotics helping hospital techniques
(medical and non-medical duties inside the hospital workflows)
CareBot and ReceptionBot techniques have proven to navigate the cell robots inside the hospital workflow, making duties extra handy for the hospital administration system.
AI and Robotic techniques are additionally helping hospital administration groups with routine duties, similar to delivering drugs to sufferers, gathering lab specimens, and managing affected person appointments. One such instance is the TUG robotic system, which additionally helps clear and disinfect hospitals (5). These robots permit hospital workers members to concentrate to sufferers for extra sophisticated duties whereas performing repetitive duties that don’t require human intelligence.
Dangers related to AI and Robotics
Alongside these benefits, there are some unavoidable issues and dangers that accompany using robotics in healthcare. There’s a rising concern of information breach not solely in healthcare however nearly in any trade, which might result in the malfunction of the robotic or an AI algorithm by an ill-intended particular person and thus might hurt the affected person. There may be additionally the chance of compromising affected person information privateness, as the corporate working the robotic would have entry to sufferers’ non-public info.
There’ll at all times be a necessity of human supervision for every type of robots, particularly in healthcare, as a result of stakeholders might be in a weak state throughout their use, and thus, we might not totally depend on robotics for our care.
Whereas we’re shifting in the direction of an period the place robots will help us in lots of facets of our lives—from nurse robots to a robotic waitress or a robotic flight attendant—we can not ignore the significance of human empathy and intelligence that will by no means get replaced with AI and robots.
References:
1) https://gbs.mayoclinic.org/licensable-content/symptom-triage.php
2) https://www.sciencedirect.com/matters/engineering/exoskeleton-robotics
3) https://www.myontec.com/put up/interviewing-wearables-and-exoskeleton-expert-matthew-marino
4) https://www.docwirenews.com/docwire-pick/robot-wars-in-medicine-mako-versus-rosa/
5) https://www.wired.com/2015/02/incredible-hospital-robot-saving-lives-also-hate/
Dr. Sahar Hashmi
Concerning the Creator:
Dr. Sahar Hashmi is the CEO of Myriad Consulting LLC – MA, USA. Hashmi is an MD with a PhD from MIT’s Enterprise Faculty & IDSS with grasp in Techniques Design and Administration. She is a school teacher at Harvard and the Titan Enterprise Award winner of 2022 for her inventive consulting enterprise.
Experience: AI in healthcare, trendy care supply, digital well being & enterprise transformation and automation, information analytics, metaverse and good properties/clinics/labs design.
