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.
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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.
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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.
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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