The future of medical technology sees robots as champions of precision surgery. In this video, advanced robots developed by a company called Quanser are redefining minimally-invasive surgeries. These robots can be connected to advanced sensors that allow them to perform surgery with more precision than even a human surgeon may be capable of. The same equipment that is used to control the robots in surgery also has applications for helping stroke victims regain thier motor skills. By participating in interactive video exercises on a computer monitor, patients can manipulate a cursor to different parts of the screen to practice regaining their motor skills. Many people picture robots taking over the world in the future, but for now it would seem that they are just stuck helping people get better.
Credits:
Digital Journal. Inside the Robotic Operating Room of the Future. Youtube.com. Toronto, 9 October 2007.
This is an excellent tool for doctors to use for better control during surgery. surgery to me is a form or art. There is no way that every surgeon can be trained to perform in the exact same manner like a robot. machanical surgery could be a more precise way to perform operations with less error. this would of course have to be under supervision of a surgeon if robots were to perform completely on their own. I read an article in a recent issue of Wired magazine that showed a robot that looked like a spider, about the size of a persons abdomen. It is being developed to perform surgery without a person to control it, to be used during war when there is a shortage of medical treatment. It would also benefit underprivilaged countries to donate these surgery bots to help extend medical services to needy societies.
ReplyDeleteI think that the robots in the operating room are a really great idea as long as they are properly controlled and know what they are doing. But just like a real doctor people make mistakes and they also save people’s lives. I think it’s a great idea to bring the robots to people and help them with physical therapy and other issues they are having because not every person can get to a hospital or doctors office.
ReplyDeleteRobots are without a doubt a cornerstone of future technology, with medical uses included. This kind of technology might even allow specialized surgeons to perform complicated surgery while being halfway across the world. While computerized surgeons are far from today, these kind of things have to be thoroughly tested before being released. I wouldn't want to be operated on by a beta program.
ReplyDeleteI think this was predicted by everybody that robots will take over most things in future and if any of you think that this might be in distant future. This technology is already being used in major hospital facilities. The reason why we don’t see robots operating in every hospital is because this technology cost so much money that it might be way out of range for some hospitals and this technology can be only used in qualifying hospitals. But they only use robots for some major surgeries because it might be time consuming for robots to do everything so, they might only do things that doctor would hesitate to do. For instance, making a precise incision and implanting an organ, heart or brain surgery. But it is true that if the robots performed all the surgeries than there will be fewer fatality rate.
ReplyDeleteMy uncle is a cardiac surgeon and a few years ago he attended a class and seminar on using robots to help during surgery. It seemed so crazy to me, yet it is becoming very realistic. He currently works at Doylestown Hospital and the robot is used quite frequently. According to him, it is very precise and much more accurate than the human hand. There are no shakes or fidgets. However, it does not run on its own. He must operate it. This is just the beginning of technology in the operating room, I am sure we will see many more beneficial improvements in our lifetime. At some point we may do away with surgeons all together, and solely rely on robots… what a crazy thought.
ReplyDeleteRobots are great tools to have in the operating room. They allow the medical staff to complete their job faster and effectively. Although they are great I see two disadvantaged in using robots in the operating room: the first one is that robots are machines and they can make a mistake that could cost someone his or her life. The second disadvantage is that if this trend will continue it will leave lots of OR techs jobless.
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