Robots in the Medical Field


Whenever you think about hospitals, certain things come to mind, including doctors, nurses, operating rooms and patient beds. It is no wonder that you all think of mostly about the same things, since these are the things without which you can't imagine a hospital.

But what happens when you visit any hospital and you will find robots carrying first-aid trays going into private wards to give injections to the patients or walking in general wards for routine examination.

Although this is a not a new thing for us which we become to know but experiencing them everywhere has yet to happen and that's why maybe you will encounter this situation in the near future.

We must have read about robots or seen them cleaning floors, washing clothes and drapes rugs etc. in hospitals but now we can now see them doing other smart works including testing and diagnosing patients as well.

No doubt it is a kind of revolutionary event which has happened in our day-to-day life. In 1985, the Robot was first introduced in medical science its name is PUMA560. PUMA 560 was used in brain biopsy.

I remember when I was in ninth standard I had read about Brian Davies in a science magazine which comes in my school library. Mr. Davies is a scientist who has designed a robot which was capable of removing soft tissues from the human body; this invention has come into light in 1988.



PUMA 560 analysis


It was a very inspirational invention in those days as technology was not so advanced.But because use of such kinds of machines is very bold step as human body is very sensitive from inside, so using the machinery inside the human body for which an extra care is needed by default as any rude or insensitive and nonsense treatment can cause fatal to the lives of patients.

So using insensitive machines in these places would have needed lots of support and confidence of 'will not happen anything wrong'.

The support of doctors which is needed most was not provided by them and hence use of robots has been limited to an extent.
The other thing was These places are very sensitive so use of robots with arms and legs could be very dangerous if someday they could not be controlled by the central system. Hence a decision of making very small robots was made.

And scientists have engrossed themselves in bringing their concepts alive. Scientists have decided to design robots of three axis and an additional axis after some time which can help in contributing Prostate surgery. But now the use of robots is becoming very common. Even I also know N number of people who have benefited from computer-assisted surgery.

Computer assisted surgery is also known as image-guided surgery is a 3-D surgery. It is a computer based procedure that uses technology of 3-D imaging and real-time sensing. It allows better treatment due to its ability of better visualization and targeting of sites.

Surgery by robots is not exactly the surgery done by robots, the whole procedure is controlled by human minds which are in other places of this world.Robotic surgery is nothing but a combination of computerized programming and mechanical parts including motors, sensors etc.

 

Minimal Invasive surgery

It is to be noted that these robots who will do medical tests etc. of patients are controlled by a central control system. Another thing which is becoming common nowadays in hospitals are Haptic devices.

Haptic refers to sense of touch. It is nothing but a form of non-verbal communication. Haptic devices are designed and works according to the concept of communication and as we know that different places has their own way to communicate, these haptic devices are designed differently. In some places voice recognizing technology is used in making the haptic devices whereas some can be designed with the help of sensing technology.


Haptic devices which are used commercially

Robotic surgery is an example of development in the field of robotics.Pediatric robotics technology can be used in children's hospitals. Surgeons use small robot to perform operation that give less pain to the patients. These have very huge applications in operating rooms doing operations intelligently.

These smart humans are controlled automatically either by using computer system or directly by a telemanipulator.Now a question must be occurring in your minds that if we have a team of very intelligent and experienced doctors then why we we are insisting for using machine doctors or surgeons.

It is very simple;our aim is to enhance the capabilities of open surgery and to reduce the limitations which usually occurs during surgical operations. A telemanipulator is a remote manipulator that helps in instructing surgeons to do the job very very perfectly.

It can also be possible that we can provide instructions from anywhere in this world and help in remote surgery.Use of Robots in surgery makes it possible to avoid sizes of cuts during operations and hence can reduce blood-loss and risks of having infections.

These systems actually divided into some parts which is included Vision system, Robotic arms, Wrist instrument etc.
The vision system helps in seeing the parts and the effective areas on which the actions is to be taken.

The robotic arms can be three or four in number according to the job or type of surgery which is proceeded by these robots surgeon. Wrist instruments help in the stitching and clamping. Except all these, the whole system is controlled by any experienced surgeon from somewhere else.

Now another thought comes in our minds that what Robots can do apart from surgery in medical field. Expectations for replacing injured organs by mechanical parts in the way so that they can respond to the other parts of human body biologically. It is giving so much of hope nowadays for the replacement of limbs, eyes, ears, even hearts. This is yet to come practically. Robotic devices can also provide help to those people which are not able to do several movements by their limbs.

This is the biggest challenge for the scientists because it seems next to impossible that these parts are supported by our inner immune system and the parts which we will join with the human body will not damage the chemical phenomena of Using Robots in hospitals will reduce the number of staff. The job of nurses can be done by a single robot with more efficiency.

However using robots can be proven to be costly in the beginning, but with the time it would be more economical as wages given to the nurses monthly and then yearly will be saved. Plus Robots as we know are nothing but very capable and strong machines and hence efficiency of work would be increased. Robots are actually stronger than human beings;their strength can be decided according to the requirement by using techniques. The results which is given by robots are more accurate.

The use of Robots in medical field is really a challenging task as the field is very sensitive and full of delicacy.

Resources:

Robots:Smart Humans

How to make a Robot:Part 2

Microcontrollers for Robots


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