Monday, June 22

Robot technology is advancing in every part of the economy, but it is moving at a particularly fast clip in health care. A robotic wheelchair can now read the mind of a paralyzed person and take him where he wants to go.

Watch a video of how it works here. It doesn’t look pretty — users have to wear a skull cap with 16 electrodes plastered on their head. But it will soon allow people to maneuver through homes and buildings, even in crowded conditions.

It works by reading brain waves of the user, picked up by the electrodes. Designers are now working on ways to allow mid-move corrections in direction and destination.

Health care has been an obvious frontier for robot technology. But now that saving money is more important than ever, expect to see more robots at hospitals and probably even outpatient settings.

Hospitals have been using robots to deliver drugs for several years. HelpMate robots have been roaming the corridors of acute-care facilities since 1999, delivering food, pharmaceuticals and lab specimens. Hospital staff humanize them by giving them names like Rosie, Roscoe and Elvis.

Hospital administrators like them because Rosie, Roscoe and Elvis will never ask for a day off, never take a sick day, and never lobby for a raise. They don’t take coffee breaks and congregate in hallways, whispering unkind comments about management.

A few down sides have begun to appear as robot behavior clashes with human behavior. For example, when human staff boards an elevator with the hospital robot, he or she may be surprised that the machine has to reposition itself within a confined space.

Of course, there is tremendous potential here for home health aides to assist the elderly and chronically ill. You can see more details on that trend in this excellent article in Proto, the Massachusetts General Hospital newsletter. Predictably, people grow fond of their robots and begin to treat them like pets, social scientists say.

And it won’t be long before models become increasingly human-like, which will forge an even greater bond between patient and robot-helper. The Japanese have been trailblazers in this area, especially Honda, the auto manufacturer.

Asimo, as long as you’re in the kitchen, can you grab me a cold one?

Now, yes. Some of this makes people nervous. Hollywood has tended to demonize robots, and there are some potential… shall we say… drawbacks.

But the benefits would seem to far outweigh the negatives. Look for robots to become major players in every aspect of health care — even surgery and mental health services. Expect sophistication to expand exponentially throughout the coming decade.





