Prepare Yourselves, Robots Will Soon Replace Doctors In Healthcare

At the company’s big event this year, Apple introduced us to a handful of new features designed for the next generation smartwatch that is ready to function as your new fitness guru. Not only has the new software got better workout integration and access to a bunch of apps that help keep us fit, the Apple Watch can now synchronize information directly with the latest gym equipment, making sure that there is no disparity in data between the two devices. As we move headfast into a new generation of urban elites who are obsessed with their health and quality of life, a lot of the biggest tech companies are doing their best to cash in on the latest trend in popular opinion. Apple’s watchOS 4.0 is a direct competition to Fitbit’s own line of health-conscious smartwatches, those these are hardly the only companies trying to bring healthcare to your palms and wrists.

In April 2017, the Wired Magazine covered a next generation of personal healthcare robots that make use of artificial intelligence techniques to take over the job of your domestic nurse, performing such functions as reminding you of your medication, coaching patients on the challenges of dealing with chronic illness and communicating with healthcare professionals to help track patient progress. The robots, referred to as the Mabu Personal Healthcare Companion from Catalia Health, are part of the company’s new project on using innovative techniques to increase patient engagement. The idea of having an all-time domestic robot to care for your health may sound creepy at first, but when you really think about it, it is a much more convenient and cost-friendly option for senior citizens who live alone and are in need of minor full-time medical attention. Mabu is not a replacement for your family physician, nor can it supplement the idea of submitting to regular health checkups at a hospital. It can, however, make the concept of healthcare more interesting and accessible, making it possible to constantly care for a patient even when a doctor is not around.

In fact, in September 2016, surgeons at the Oxford University John Radcliffe Hospital used a remotely controlled robotic surgeon called Robotic Retinal Dissection Device (R2D2) to remove a membrane 100th of a millimetre thick from the retina of the right eye of Revd Dr. William Beaver, successfully curing his blindness and resurrecting his ability to see normally. This was the first time a robot had been used to conduct an operation of the eye in medical history.