Artificial intelligence meets medical robotics

Michael Yip; Septimiu Salcudean; Ken Goldberg; Kaspar Althoefer; Arianna Menciassi; Justin D Opfermann; Axel Krieger; Krithika Swaminathan; Conor J Walsh; He Helen Huang; I-Chieh Lee

doi:10.1126/science.adj3312

Artificial intelligence meets medical robotics

Science. 2023 Jul 14;381(6654):141-146. doi: 10.1126/science.adj3312. Epub 2023 Jul 13.

Authors

Michael Yip¹, Septimiu Salcudean², Ken Goldberg³, Kaspar Althoefer⁴, Arianna Menciassi⁵, Justin D Opfermann^{6

7}, Axel Krieger^{6

7

8}, Krithika Swaminathan⁹, Conor J Walsh⁹, He Helen Huang^{10

11}, I-Chieh Lee^{10

11}

Affiliations

¹ Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
² Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
³ Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁴ School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
⁵ The BioRobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Piazza Martiri della Libertà, Pisa, Italy.
⁶ Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁷ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁸ Department of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁹ John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁰ Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
¹¹ Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

PMID: 37440630
DOI: 10.1126/science.adj3312

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) applications in medical robots are bringing a new era to medicine. Advanced medical robots can perform diagnostic and surgical procedures, aid rehabilitation, and provide symbiotic prosthetics to replace limbs. The technology used in these devices, including computer vision, medical image analysis, haptics, navigation, precise manipulation, and machine learning (ML) , could allow autonomous robots to carry out diagnostic imaging, remote surgery, surgical subtasks, or even entire surgical procedures. Moreover, AI in rehabilitation devices and advanced prosthetics can provide individualized support, as well as improved functionality and mobility (see the figure). The combination of extraordinary advances in robotics, medicine, materials science, and computing could bring safer, more efficient, and more widely available patient care in the future. -Gemma K. Alderton.