PowerPoint Presentation

WHITE PAPER

Robots are Revolutionizing

Healthcare Industry

2021

White Paper | 2021

Robots are Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry

The main aim of robots in healthcare is to improve and support

the functioning of medical interventions, disabled individuals,

care, and rehabilitation. Eventually, it improves the quality of life

of patients and healthcare professionals. Integration of medical

robots with advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence,

IoT, and bioprinting would define the future of robotics. A wave of

innovations is predicted by looking at the investments from many

companies and governments in the sector. These innovations

may be aimed at resolving current unmet needs of robots such

as high price, precision, on-the-spot decision making just as the

human mind, emotional intelligence, and situational behavior.

futurebridge.com

White Paper | 2021

Robots are Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry

Note: RED marked timeline is for surgical robotic evolution

Source: FutureBridge analysis

Introduction

The word ‘robot’ was coined by the Robotic Institute of America in the 1940s as a

machine that performs the mechanical functions of a human being but lacks

sensitivity as that of a human being. Initially, the robots were designed to work like

humans, but later it was observed that they can be used for a lot more applications

due to their ability of multitasking in a much efficient and faster way. In the last few

decades, the utilization of robotic devices has evolved from spearheading tests in an

automated medical procedure to the broad utilization of robots in pretty much every

part of the healthcare sector. Exhibit 1 represents the evolution of medical robots

over the last few decades.

EXHIBIT 1: Evolution of medical robots

da Vinci - First

animal study for

head and neck

region

da Vinci -

First Robot

approved for

laparoscopic

surgery

2017

Sensei -

Specialized

robotic catheter

system

Smart Pills/

Micro bots -

Monitor inner

body functionality

in real time

Pharma-Botics-

Vending machine

for dispensing

drugs

Penelope -

Introduction of

robotic scrub

nurse

Orthoses (AKA

Exoskeletons) -

Useful for

correcting

malformations

IESOP - First FDA

approved robotic

surgical system

for positioning

endoscopes

Puma560 -

First Surgical

robot utilized for

brain biopsies

1960 2000

IBM 650 -

Scans medical

records for

subtle

abnormalities

Gamma Knife -

Computer-

assisted dose

planning

program

Shakey - First

mobile robot

introduced by

SRI

RB5X - First

personal robot

manufactured

by Robotics

Corp.

1966

1980

1974 1982

1990 2003

2005

2007

2013

2015

Medical robotics is causing a change in outlook in treatment and diagnostics..

Robotics provides a better solution for the healthcare and medical industry through

many benefits such as cost reduction of medical treatment, minimizing the risk of

surgical procedures, time-saving, and improvement of healthcare outcomes.

Robotically driven healthcare has helped in improving the treatment outcomes with

negligible error encounters, thereby improving patient experience.

The robotic applications are extensive and have contributed specifically to the

enrichment of the surgical sub‐specialties based on advantages such as increased

surgeon control and autonomy, superior instrument dexterity and tissue handling,

improved three‐dimensional visualization, and improved accuracy in complex

White Paper | 2021

Robots are Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry

procedures. The da Vinci surgery system was the first FDA-approved (2000) robotic

system encompassing surgical instruments and camera/scope devices. The “Endo-

wrist” features of the da Vinci surgery system precisely replicate skilled movements

of a surgeon at the controls. Since then it has become one of the most ubiquitous

and recognized systems throughout the world in the robotic surgery era, which

served as the building block for future robotic surgeries.

Developed countries are fueling innovations in this sector through loads of

investments. European Commission aims at accelerating the research and

development in robotics for healthcare with the commencement of a new research

project through €16 million funding . The world’s elderly population of age 60 years

and above is expected to reach 78 million according to the US Census, which

means there will be a significant shortage of nurses to take care of elderly people.

The rise in robotic nurses is expected by 2035 and the market is expected to reach

$480 million between 2015 and 2020.

Prominent surgical robots like Da Vinci developed by Intuitive Surgical have

completed five million surgeries in 2018. More than 4,500 surgical robots are sold by

the company worldwide. Intuitive Surgical expanded its footprint in Sunnyvale in

2019 by investing over $15 million. Such investments underline massive success in

surgical robots .

Medical robots are capable of carrying out a wide range of functions, ranging from

assisting surgeons in performing minimally invasive surgeries, to performing clinical

diagnostics. In broad terms, medical robotics can be used in the following various

forms:

 Minimally invasive surgical robots: Assist physicians to perform surgeries with

high accuracy and minimally invasive surgical procedures

 Diagnostic devices: Capture and process the information essential for effective

medical treatment

 Advanced prosthetic: Mind-controlled prosthetics to aid in coordination and

mobility

 Telepresence technology: Advanced video conferencing to provide stimuli to

the user's senses that make them feel as though they are in another place

 Hospital automation: Automated robots to give medications to the patients and

safely disinfect rooms and surfaces

 Assistant robots: Assist the patients requiring medical attention

White Paper | 2021

Robots are Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry

Reasons inhibiting robots to be

mainstream

The Gartner research has suggested that one in three jobs that exist today will be

converted to smart machines, robots, and softwares by 2025. However, there are a

few job sectors where robots dare not venture, where human intelligence still beats

artificial intelligence perception and manipulation, social intelligence, and creativity.

 Sympathy & Empathy: A robot can personalize all the elements of the customer

relationship, but only humans can make a relationship truly personal. E.g.

calming an angry or panicked patient, humans outperform as robots are pre-

written programs with limited emotions, while humans are equipped with diverse

emotions related to diverse situations.

 Social intelligence: Social intelligence is another bottleneck, as machines can’t

yet compete with humans at work involving negotiation, persuasion, or care. In

particular, machines struggle to recognize and respond to human emotions.

 Creative thinking: Algorithms are getting systematically better. This means that

robots are now excellent at predicting customer behavior but cannot still form

new and valuable ideas such as poetry, music, recipes, jokes, fashion design, or

scientific theories.

 Perception and manipulation: Humans outpace robots when it comes to

perception and motor skills, especially in unstructured work environments such

as surgeries. Robots can perform minimally invasive surgeries, thus improving

precision and speeding recovery, but may be indecisive in case of any surgical

complications.

Factors encouraging the growth of

medical robots

Medical professionals use robots for everything from surgery and rehabilitation to

non-invasive general hospital and pharmacy applications. This usage shows no

signs of slowing down and is predicted to grow year on year. Table 1 shows how

robotics is assisting various stakeholders in the healthcare sector. The medical

robotics market has increased almost sevenfold since 2012. Today, a good

percentage of the world population is aging rapidly and co-morbidities will continue

to rise largely as a result of lifestyles associated with economic development such

as smoking, obesity, harmful consumption of alcohol, unhealthy diet, and sedentary

lifestyle. Further, the continuously changing landscape of healthcare has led to the

White Paper | 2021

Robots are Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry

emergence of several significant factors that are likely to strengthen the case for

more ambitious adoption of advanced medical technologies, including medical

robotics. Those factors include:

 Chronic disease prevalence: According to the World Health Organization (WHO),

chronic disease growth is expected to rise by 57% by the year 2020. With this

disease growth rate, the need for automation in several aspects of the healthcare

sector is anticipated.

 Shortage of healthcare providers: According to the United Nations Population

Fund (UNFPA), the world is aging rapidly; between 2015 and 2050, the proportion

of the world's population over 60 years will nearly double from 12% to 22%. By

2050, the world’s population of age 60 years and above is expected to reach 2

billion, up from 900 million in 2015. Therefore, a significant shortage of nurses to

take care of elderly people is expected, which will eventually increase the demand

for robotic nurses.

 Growth of minimally invasive surgeries: The medical industry is inclining

towards less invasive surgical techniques offering effective treatment to patients,

reducing the recovery time, and improving the clinical success rate. In some cases,

medical robotic devices have outperformed invasive surgeries.

 Shortage of trained medical personnel: By the year 2030, the shortfall of

physicians in the US is projected to exceed 100,000, with rural and underserved

populations expected to be especially hard hit. Thus, to overcome such a situation

advanced medical robotics could play an important role in addressing the shortage.

Source: FutureBridge analysis

TABLE 1: Implementation of robotics to assist various stakeholders in healthcare sector

Stakeholder Role Implementation

Physicians



Accurate choice of therapy



Documentation of structured data



Reducing surgical risks



Remote patient monitoring



Implementation of artificial intelligence in choosing therapies



Analyzing large patient data set and performing data modelling



Robotic assistance in surgical techniques



Guidance to patients in an emergency via telemedicine

Nurses



Care of patient pool



Slicing off redundant tasks



Education



Large scale patient monitoring via virtual robotics



Generating alerts for human intervention in patient wards



Telepresence for teaching purposes

Care

-givers



Social assistance for the aging population



Home care assistance



Patient education



Old age patient care through socially assistive robotics



Engagement and interaction towards disease education and

identification

Hospitals



Mobile logistics



Data tracking



Medication dispensing



Autonomous robotic transport for medicine and surgical tools supply



Point of care medication dispensing through automated machinery

Pharmaceutical

companies



Manufacturing of personalized medicine



Reducing operational cost



Decreasing human errors



Automated drug discovery and development



Use of artificial intelligence for lead identification



Automation line through IoT integrated platforms for manufacturing

and packaging of drugs

 Use of advanced robotics in screening and identifying drug candidates

Medical device

companies



Process streamlining



Assembly testing and inspection



Consistency in regulatory compliance



Sensory robotics offering efficient packaging of finished goods



Programmed path to maintain consistency in quality check and

regulatory compliance

White Paper | 2021

Robots are Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry

Application Examples

Robotic application has paved its way into the healthcare industry and its products in

the healthcare market. According to a published report, assisting in surgery, life

science research, and telemedicine are the most promising areas for robotic

applications in the healthcare industry. Exhibit 2 provides an illustrative list of entities

working on medical robots.

Source: FutureBridge analysis

EXHIBIT 2: Few active entities working on medical robots

Pharmaceutical &

medical device industry

Rehabilitation robots

Surgery robots

Care giving robots

Nursing robots

Medicine dispensing

robots

Research robots

Education robots

 Nursing robots: Robotic nurses can be utilized for assistance in hospitals to

execute monotonous human-like physical activities.

‒ Robot Dinsow (CT Asia Robotics) can monitor elderly patients through

video and also provides alert notifications to the patients about their

medication time and dosage. The robot is currently used in Thailand and

Japan.

‒ Robot Pepper (Soft bank Robotics) is deployed at the reception of two

Belgian hospitals to guide the patients in the specific wardroom. Its unique

features consist of 20 language skills and can connect to the emotional

needs of individual patients.

White Paper | 2021

Robots are Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry

‒ Dustin (Duquesne University) is a telemedicine robotic platform that can

interact with students once connected via the iPad or any computer. It also

provides live video assistance in case of emergencies.

 Research robots: Smart robots can accelerate the drug development process in

the pharmaceutical/biotechnology field using advanced research capabilities such

as artificial intelligence, big data analysis, etc.

‒ Eve (Cambridge, Wales, and Manchester University) is a drug discovery

robot that is created by the collaborative efforts of three universities. The

major advantage includes its rapid ability to screen 1000 compounds in a

single day, which has led to the discovery of an anti-malarial drug.

‒ Bioxcel Therapeutics is developing an AI platform to rapidly identify new

candidates in the immune-oncology and neuroscience fields. Many other

start-ups such as Genomics, Arcotris, etc. are enabling advanced robotic

solutions to meet the current drug exploration activities.

 Care-givers: Socially assistive robots can act as care providers to elderly

patients while in hospitals or home-based care and help in their daily chores.

These robots also provide reminders to patients about daily dosing time.

‒ Robot Paro bot (AIST) imitates seal voice to relax patients. It has five types

of sensors and is commonly used in extended care facilities and hospitals

to improve patient interaction with caregivers.

‒ Keepon robot developed by an individual by Hideki Kozima at NICT, Japan

is a unique robot that studies autistic behavioral changes in kids and

monitors mental health.

 Patient education and counseling: Robots dedicated as an assistant in

providing medical education to patients directly. These bots perform tasks such

as disease diagnosis, clinic finding, and counseling to patients for utmost care

‒ Buoy Health has developed an AI-enabled platform that listens and

interacts with patients in real-time to identify symptoms and diagnose

disease.

‒ Gyant chatbot is another example of an AI-enabled real-time platform to

improve patient experience and assist them in identifying the disease,

doctors, or clinics.

 Surgeons: Minimally invasive surgeries can be executed more precisely with

less significant pain using these robotic technologies.

‒ DaVinci system (Intuitive Surgical) is a ubiquitous robotic system with

precise incision capability. Surgeons can completely control the system

and perform complex surgeries with reduced risk. Moreover, this robot

assists surgeons in the execution of complex surgeries.

‒ Mako knee surgical robot (Stryker) enables the creation of patient-specific

3D models of knee joints based on CT scans obtained pre-operatively. The

White Paper | 2021

Robots are Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry

system is advantageous in severe knee inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis,

and post-traumatic arthritis.

 Rehabilitation: The robots help disabled patients in standing up, balancing, and

gait.

‒ Orthoses is a robotic exoskeleton system that can assist paralyzed people

in limb motions. It works on pre-set user-defined commands feuded into

the robot but advances are being made towards mind-controlling features

for orthoses.

 Carriers in hospitals: Robots can be used to transport medical equipment from

one destination to another without human intervention.

‒ Helpmate (Pyrix) is a carrier bot programmed to transport surgical tools, x-

ray images, food, and medication supplies from a point A to B within the

hospital.

 Medication dispensation and medical assistance/education: The bots assist

medical personnel and improve working conditions in the hospital environment.

While some bots were created to provide virtual education and training to medical

professionals.

‒ Robot-Rx (Mckensson) is used in hospitals for automating personalized

medication processes. It acts like a vending machine that dispenses

medication through automated processing. Also, it monitors and creates

alerts on the depletion of medicines in-store.

‒ Quentus AI-based software platform automates and prioritizes patient

safety.

‒ Pediatric HAL (Gaumard Scientific) is a simulating bot that is used for the

training of nurses in pediatric care. This robot acts like a 5-year-old child

which can interact with nurses, this robot enables training candidates to

study symptoms and vital signs in diseased conditions.

 Medical device industry & pharmaceutical research advancement: Industries

are working towards the development of robotic integrated advanced

technologies to improve manufacturing solutions, quality testing of products, and

finished product manufacturing.

‒ Delta-style M series has been deployed by Fanuc, a US-based company

for accurate and smart handling such as inline visual tracking and precision

handling to increase productivity.

‒ Delta robot solution (Sysmac) is an integrated robotic solution to reduce

problems related to production and reduce the programming time of the

manufacturers.

‒ CoLAB (collaborative laboratory) is developed by HighRes Biosolutions

that can test >30,000 compounds for drug efficacy and has a working

capacity of 24 hours a day.

White Paper | 2021

Robots are Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry

‒ 3Scan is a proprietary microscopic visualization system to generate 3D

spatial screening maps and has the capability to process >3000 tissue

slices.

 Future of integrating robotics with advanced technologies.

The future of robotics in healthcare is predicted to be exponentially increasing.

Researchers and companies are trying to integrate robotics with advanced

technologies such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things (IoT), and

bioprinting. Exhibit 3 provides an illustrative application of robotics integrated

advanced technologies.

Source: FutureBridge analysis

EXHIBIT 3: Integration of robotics with advanced technologies

IoT

Bio printing

Artificial intelligence

Machine learning application of

assessment of Cancer, and other

chronic disease, e.g. Infervision’s

(Chinese startup) developed CT scan

technology that enhanced cancer

diagnosis by 50%

Creation of bio-bots mimicking natural

organisms, e.g. Rutger’s University

developed a soft robotic printable

material which can change dynamics of

biomedical engineering

Cloud-based & 5G services are being

deployed for remote patient monitoring

and alert care-givers about patient

conditions, e.g. Ministry of Healthcare in

Singapore is focusing on development

of preventive IoT healthcare

Drivers for adoption of robotics in

healthcare

 Reduction in healthcare cost: The homecare robotic assistive systems have

replaced expensive patient care services and assisted in supporting the

independent living of the disabled and the aging population. Surgical robots are

economical in terms of decreased pre and post-operation costs and lengthy stays

at hospitals. The pharmacy and nursing robots achieve cost benefits by reducing

manpower and lowering error-free medication delivery.

White Paper | 2021

Robots are Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry

 Reduce the time required for surgeries: Surgeons can perform the surgeries in

less time using robots due to their ability to help them in aligning the angles of

surgical tools on-target sites in all three dimensions during the surgery. With the

help of robots, surgeons can perform more surgeries with high precision and

success rate as compared to what they did without the use of robots.

 Enhance supply chain: Automated systems help in transporting bulky supplies

such as medicines, surgical instruments, machines, etc. from one place to

another requiring minimal human efforts. The automated robot can move across

the hospital rooms, operating theatre, and other departments at any time to

provide programmed or on-demand deliveries.

 Provide assistance or comfort to patients: There is a rapid increase in the

number of elderly patients across the world. They require much more attention to

perform basic chores. Robots can assist elderly patients to do basic chores such

as get out of bed, sit in a wheelchair, etc.

 Improve patient recovery time: Using robots in critical surgeries minimizes the

chances of human errors. The keyhole surgery using robots can accurately work

through very small incisions resulting in rapid patient recovery.

Exhibit 4 illustrates a brief about the drivers and challenges for the adoption of

robotics in healthcare.

Source: FutureBridge analysis

EXHIBIT 4: Drivers & challenges for the adoption of robotics in healthcare

Training: requires hours of time from

doctors and nurses

Reduce the time required for

surgeries: more number of surgeries

in less time with high precision

Provide assistance to patients: performs

the basic chores of elderly patients

Enhance supply chain: automating

the transportation of medicines,

surgical instruments, etc.

Improve patient recovery time: facilitating minimally

invasive surgery resulting in repaid patient recovery

Huge energy consumption: an uninterrupted

power supply needed for long lasting operations

Privacy issues: risk of leakage of users'

personal and private medical information

Stringent regulations: long testing

period with huge incurred expenses

High capital investment: high cost of manufacturing

a robot having accuracy & precision as of humans

Liability Issues: concerns over accountability in case

of malfunctioning or any other adverse consequences

Reduced healthcare cost: reduces in-

patient care, pre and post- operation cost

White Paper | 2021

Robots are Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry

Challenges for the adoption of

robotics in healthcare

 High capital investment: One biggest challenge of robotics in healthcare is its

cost of manufacturing. Building a robot that can accurately reproduce the way the

surgeon’s hand moves is quite costly, around $1M. Companies are coming up with

cost-effective robots using advanced technologies such as 3D printing. E.g., SS

Innovations has recently launched an affordable robotic surgical system that can

perform complex motion controls using the actin robotic control toolkit.

 Extensive training: One of the major challenges of medical robots is the huge

amount of time invested in training them to perform the tasks. Hours of doctor’s and

nurse’s time is required for training a robot. Certification for some medical robots

requires 100+ hours of training.

 Stringent regulations: Regulatory approval is one of the major roadblocks for

medical robots. The robot manufacturing companies have to follow rigorous

regulatory approval schemes from the US, European Union, Japan, and other

regulatory agencies. The approval requires a long testing period with huge incurred

expenses. To overcome these constrains the companies must be accustomed to

all the regulatory guidelines and well prepared with monetary planning.

 Privacy issues: End-users of the robots are concerned about leakage of medical

information such as patient history, etc. The companies developing robots feed

huge data about users' personal and private medical information to train them using

advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning. This

information is prone to cyber-attacks that can be protected by adhering to safety

standards and security requirements by regulator bodies such as General Data

Protection Regulation (GDPR), ISO80001, and AAMI/UL2800 series of standards.

 Huge energy consumption: Robots being electronic machines, have huge energy

requirements. They require an uninterrupted power supply, thus need new power

sources and energy harvesting technologies for long-lasting operations. Saft

batteries, a Chinese company has developed long-life, highly reliable nickel

batteries for robotics applications in defense, deep offshore, and healthcare to

address the issues of high energy supplies and uninterrupted power supply.

 Liability issues: Due to the mechanical nature of the robots, it is impossible to

make them liable in case of malfunctioning or any other adverse consequences

that occurred during their usage. This could raise concerns related to accountability

amongst manufacturers, programmers, and providers. This issue can be

addressed by designing a legal regime identifying product liability.

White Paper | 2021

Robots are Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry

Conclusion

Robots are actively becoming part of the modern healthcare ecosystem benefiting

all the stakeholders across the value chain. Advances in sensors, communication,

and motion control technologies have facilitated medical robots to be more precise

and autonomous. The recent developments in surgical robots have widened the

scope from assisting surgeons to single-handedly perform complex surgeries. The

capability to sense, think, and act makes robotics a revolutionary technology for the

healthcare industry. With the pace of evolution of the medical robot, the major

factors that will play a role in the success in designing the robots for medical

applications are clinical safety, product safety, and quality management compliance.

The future lies in the integration of medical robots with advanced technologies such

as artificial intelligence, IoT, and bioprinting. With the introduction of 5G technology,

the field of robotics is further expected to counter latency-related issues. The funding

to researchers from the governments in the field will further pave the way towards

the use of medical robots for the welfare of humanity.

13
White Paper | 2021
Robots are Revolutionizing Healthcare Industry
References
NCBI Article
Danish Technological Institute
Ohio University
Electronicspecifier
Computer World
WHO
WHO
IHS Markit Report
Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse
Duquesne University School of Nursing
Institute For The Future
Cerner
Interesting Engineering
All On Robots
Fanuc
Omron
Alliance of Advanced BioMedical Engineering
New Atlas
Archer Soft
BSI
Built in
UL LLC
Robotics Business Review
Robotics Tomorrow
CSR Blog

futurebridge.com

Europe

Stadsplateau 7

3521 AZ Utrecht

The Netherlands

T: +31 30 298 2108

United Kingdom

5 Chancery Lane

London EC4A 1BL

United Kingdom

T: +44 207 406 7548

Asia Pacific

Millennium Business Park

Sector 3, Building # 4, Mahape

Navi Mumbai 400 710

India

T: +91 22 6772 5700

North America

55 Madison Ave, Suite 400

Morristown, NJ 07960

USA

T: +1 212 835 1590