DR. ROBOT: Machine vs. Human By: Sanjna Mootakoduru Edited by: Taruni Manam & Kavya Gurunath
tttttIt’s been long imagined that one day, when
These robots monitor a patient’s vital statistics, alert
humanity becomes advanced enough, robots will be
the nurses, and automatically enter information into a
doing our tasks for us. From everyday chores, to
patient’s digital health record. This is efficient
driving us in our cars, to attending to our ailments in a
because it allows nurses to track the needs and
hospital setting, I’m sure everyone’s imagined some
progress of several patients at once. Some robots
sort of utopia of eternal relaxation and robots to tend
also carry equipment around hospitals.
to our every need. But robots are becoming more and more developed over time, and this mere science
tttttThe more popular, and debatably more exciting,
fiction dream is becoming more and more of a reality.
type of robots are those that can perform surgery.
Now, unlike ever before, there really are robots out
Many people think that the robot itself is making the
there, doing things like making sure people are
incisions but this is not the case: the robot is being
following social distancing guidelines in Singapore, or
controlled by a human surgeon. The benefits of a
an AI writing an entire article for the Guardian. The
robot surgeon are the fact that the incisions made
medical world has seen its fair share of advancements
can be extremely controlled, as seen in the infamous
as well. With all of this evolution, just how close are we
“surgery on a grape” video that the internet has
to having full-fledged robot doctors?
trolled for quite a while now. This video shows how intricate and efficient robotic surgery can be; the
tttttYou’ve already heard of, seen, and may even have
robotic scalpel is able to remove the skin off of the
some of this new and advanced technology in the
grape and then put it back together. This also means
form of devices linked with the Internet of Medical
surgery can be done from across the world with 5G
Things for short. These include devices like Fitbit and
up and coming.
other smartwatches, remote vitals trackers, and other devices that keep clinicians connected to patients
tttttIn addition to robotic surgeons and assistants,
from far away, but these don’t exactly count as
there are robots that sanitize hospitals and can help
robots. How about the cool sci-fi humanoid machines
patients that are immuno-compromised to minimize
we love to dream up? Where are those? Well, the first
contact with hospital personnel for their own safety.
kind of robot we will discuss is the robotic assistant.
There are also robots that can transport, analyze, and
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