Great expectations

Citation

Loughlin, C. (2004), "Great expectations", Industrial Robot, Vol. 31 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2004.04931faa.001

Great expectations

Great expectations

Our theme for this issue is Medical Robotics and this is an application area that I consider to be especially important and interesting. Indeed, I am also an editor of the recently launched International Journal of Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery (www.roboticpublications.com).

There are many parallels between the early days of industrial robotics and these, the still early days of medical robotics. However, there are also a great many ways in which medical robotics are as different from industrial robotics as chalk and cheese.

I believe that the original patent for a robot included some claim such as “teach and repeat”. If so then medical robots were never considered by the patent attorney. Given that we are all different from each other and also that we are constantly changing in our physical distributions, then the very last thing that a medical, and in particular, a surgical robot will do is “repeat”.

The “teach” bit is also very different. A few medical robots such as RoboDoc (hip orthopaedics) and CyberKnife (neurosurgery) do include preoperative path planning, but in the main the medical robot is never taught at all. Instead it is a tool in the hands of the surgeon or an ever patient assistant.

The challenge for medical robotics is for us to make these tools more capable and easier to use, and to make them “smart” so that they can actively help the surgeon go about his task. This challenge can include the provision of haptic (touch) feedback for the surgeon, the removal of hand tremor, and even the effective freezing of a beating heart.

In all these areas the medical robot has little in common with its industrial counterpart. Who, for example, would want to experience the strain of lifting a heavy pallet while programming an industrial robot? The robot itself might need to so it can sense if it is overloaded; but the programmer will be happy to settle for a flashing light and a message on an LCD display.

What medical robots have in common with the early industrial robots is both the over optimistic expectations for what they can currently achieve and also (ironically simultaneously) a very cautious approach to using them at all.

It is all a matter of salesmanship. A bad salesman will promise everything for nothing while a good salesman will make sure that the client has realistic expectations and charge a financially viable price.

The potential for medical robotics to make a valuable contribution to our lifestyle and well being is very great indeed, but if we are to realise this potential we must moderate our expectations and be prepared to embrace the technology so that it has the chance to gain experience and be refined to the point that our greatest expectations can be realised.

Clive Loughlin