How would you feel if you had to get a serious surgery
performed, and found out that a robot would be helping out or performing the surgery rather than a human doctor?
This might actually be a question that we are faced with in the near future.
Dr. De Momi, of Milan, Italy, led an international team in
training a robot to imitate actions that are native to human beings. Their work
suggests that robots, like humans, can effectively coordinate their actions
during high-pressure events like surgeries. The hope is that over time, the use
of robots in surgery will actually lead to improved safety. Unlike humans,
robots do not get tired, and can complete an infinite series of exact
movements. The goal is not to entirely eliminate human expertise, but rather to
complement it with the robot.
The way that Dr. De Momi’s team programmed the robot to
imitate human movement was quite interesting. They first photographed a human
conducting a variety of reaching motions, similar to the way that one would
hand an instrument over to a surgeon. The captures from the camera were used as
input to the neutral network of the robotic arm, and the information was processed
by the computer within the robot. Then, a human guided the robotic arm to make
the same reaching movements that the human subject had performed. In the final
step of the experiment, the researchers observed the robotic arm as it made
motioned, and determined if the movements of the robotic arms were “biologically
inspired”. This would reveal that their neural networks had effectively learned
to copy human behavior. This outcome was observed about 70% of the time.
I find the use of robots as surgeons to be very interesting.
Having a computer perform stressful human functions, such as surgery, has many
benefits. Robots are programmed to be able to receive input, make a decision
using a pre-programmed algorithm, and perform a task. Without emotions, they do
not feel stressed, tired, or lack concentration. For these reasons, I see many
benefits to having robots perform the duties of doctors and nurses. On the flip
side, I question how this could alter the patient’s comfort. Although intuitively
I know it could be a safer option, I still think that I would feel
uncomfortable allowing a robot to operate on me.
References
http://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/science/robots-may-replace-humans-as-nursing-assistants/410330/
Very interesting article! The expansion of robotics into the medical world is an incredible advancement in the technology world. I think using robotic arms in surgeries would greatly decrease the margin or error. Robots do not have the same risk factor that humans do when performing risky surgeries where a shaky hand could cost someone a life. This use of computing would be extremely beneficial, great job!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that the use of robotics in high risk operations is really interesting and could drastically help reduce critical human errors. However, I think robots who don't have the capacity of emotion might not be the best option for surgical operations.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI am not really sure whether this will be beneficial or not. It can Beneficial in certain aspects but over dependance can cause trouble. I am actually curious to know what impact do Dr. Robots have in the medical industry.