Final Blog: Robotics in Healthcare

Robotics in Healthcare

I got my inspiration for this topic "Robotics in Healthcare" from two things. First was a from an recent Bloomberg magazine news article "Life, Or Something Like It", where the article talked about how Mark Sagar, who “mastered the art of creating super-lifelike faces” in Spider-Man, is now working to build people from the inside out. He is creating a virtual baby that thinks and acts like a human baby. This article fascinates me as it's something that I would see in an Sci-Fi movie. It also corresponds to another article I read about a realistic-looking humanoid  machine named "Nadine" that was created by scientists in Singapore at Nanyang Technology University. Nadine was created to transform a virtual human, from within a computer, into a physical being that is able to observe and interact with other humans. She currently works as a receptionist at the university.

My other inspiration for the topic comes from this short clip on a robotic seal in healthcare for elderly in Japan, that I watched in my other class, that made me want to learn more about the use of AI or robotics in healthcare systems, especially as care and companionship for the elderly. So my goal for the project was to research the different types of robotics used in healthcare, and explore the ethical and moral concerns behind using robotics for elderly people. I wanted to make sure that this new technology could be of help for the future of healthcare.

During my research, I discovered that there are a lot of different types of robotics that are currently being developed, or are already used in hospitals. I learned a lot about the ethical concerns of having a robotic companion, and was puzzled at why people would want to have a robotic cat, instead of a real cat. It was fascinating to see how the robotics are diverse, and used in all kinds of companionships. They could bear the appearance of a piece of furniture, to more robotic-like, to looking like a real human or animal. It showed me how technology has evolved, and robotics are slowly becoming more human-like that it would be hard to differentiate between a real human and a humanoid. There is even the fear that robotics would eventually learn how to feel and want to have their own rights.

Robotics is still evolving in healthcare. Scientists are looking into ways to develop more human-like robots to help communicate with elders, and children. In the future, we need to make sure that we don't depend on the robots fully. We, humans should still double check the data, make sure that privacy concerns are not leaked, and spend more time with the elderly. The robotics companions are still helpful, and easier for elders or people with dementia to communicate with, but we should still try to listen and help the elders. 

Survey questions and answers

Survey questions:

• What do you think about having robotic companion for the elderly or disabled people?
• Would you in the future,  want to have a robotic companion?

Follow-up questions:

• What about the moral /ethical issue that we are pushing robotic companions to take over our responsibility as humans?
• Would you still rather a robotic companion versus a real life animal pet?

Answers

FOR it:

• “When I am old and disabled, I would prefer to have a robot to take care of me instead of a human being as humans would lose patience. They could also get annoyed  by the condition, environment, or even by the weather. Their mood could easily be changed, and could be frustrated at the elderly which leads them to bully the elderly.”
• “It’s unique. There’s also less work to take care of, compared to an actual pet companion.”
• “If it keeps the elderly company or makes them happy, it’s fine. As long as the old people are getting benefits from it, it’s fine.”

AGAINST it:

• “It’s kind of immoral, because I rather have somebody there instead of an object with no emotions.”
• “I would much rather a dog over a robot, because they have emotions.”

Mixed feelings:

• “Not the best choice, but I will take it if that’s the only choice I have.”
• “Some people may be allergic to animals, so it may be best for them to have a robotic companion.”
• “I prefer a real animal as a pet, but I would prefer a robot as my caretaker.”
• “I think humanity's dependence on robots will make society as a whole dumber, but they might make great companions for old people and the disabled.”
• “At some point, robots would become smart enough that we might have to question ‘robo-rights’ , but a robot caretaker might be better because it’s less likely to make mistakes.”
• “Great assistant and modern technology like Siri, Cortana, Alexa,etc, can be even more helpful when people need to talk. But they can never be a perfect substitute for human beings when elderly or disabled people need someone who have emotions, and someone who really cares for them.”

Other robotic companions

Other robotic companions

• Robotic companion pet cat developed by toy maker Hasbro: keeps lonely people company.
• 
• ElliQ: robotic companion that helps the elderly remain active and engaged.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URcuVfzwB4g
• It's like a piece of furniture or lamp that sits on a table conversing with you. It uses "natural" communication methods--including "body language"--to convey emotions while using sounds and lights and voice to express itself. It consists of two elements. "social director" that strives to have human characteristics, and an accompanying screen like a table that displays content.
• 
• AvatarMind's iPal: designed as an educational and entertaining friend for children and elderly people.
• It can sing, dance, navigate a maze, and interact with people. It is intended to serve as a learning and safety companion for children.
• Parents can also use iPal to keep an eye on children wherever they are at, and even use the robot to interact with their children remotely.
• It is intended to serve as a learning and safety companion for children. It is also designed to get kids off the couch and be more interested in science and technology.
• 
• Buddy: for seniors who live alone
• 
• France's RoboCARE-Milo:  lead group games, including memory quizzes and group exercises or singing activities to keep nursing home residents engaged.
• 
• 
  

 

https://venturebeat.com/2017/01/12/intuition-robotics-elliq-help-the-aged/

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35310200

http://www.bluefrogrobotics.com/en/buddy-elderly-senior-robot-alone/

https://venturebeat.com/2015/11/09/frances-robocare-bets-robots-can-keep-elderly-healthier-and-teach-the-french-to-speak-better-english/

Robots get to work

Robotics in Japan's Healthcare

"Want a Better Health Care System? Check Out Japan"

The largest group of those with caregiving needs is the aging population, which is rapidly expanding throughout the world. The oldest populations are seen in Japan, and Europe, but other, “newer” nations, such as the U.S., are rapidly catching up.

There may be no topic in robotics that generates more attention, moral concerns and controversy, than the use of caregiving robots. One of the reasons for this occurrence could be how intimate the caregiving robots are with their patient than any regular caretaker. However, nations such as Japan, facing a labor shortage of caregivers, are thankful to able to consider capable robots as a caregiving solution, and especially, an alternative to the loneliness in aging.

According to Mayo Clinic's 2016 article Robots or Robotics in Healthcare", robots such as Pepper, Robear and NAO/ZORA are "undergoing further development in the hopes that they might be practical, useful, acceptable, and safe, caregiving robots. Pepper, brings engaging human to robot interaction, NAO/ZORAis smaller, and highly mobile with elements of engagement, and Robear has the strength to lift people who have mobility issues. All of these robots are undergoing improvements, and updated iterations continue to be released. Robear is still in a research and development phase, and not in public use. Pepper is a four foot humanoid robot, produced by Softbank, that has the power to read and respond to human emotions."

Pepper is an extremely engaging robot. Pepper sold out in Japan in the first minute of going on the market on June 20, 2015. It is hoped that Pepper’s skills in robot to human interaction might improve the mental engagement and monitoring of humans, across the range of mental and emotional needs. 

ZORA’s Nao family of robots – “Nao”, “Zora”  

These robots are characterized by their small size, less than two feet tall, their impressive mobility, and remarkable appeal, likely due to their physical agility and pleasant personality. “Zora”, the latest in the family has been utilized in a variety of therapeutic settings. The Nao robot has been successfully deployed in retirement homes to lead exercise and movement programs, to provide companionship to older individuals who might be lonely, and to answer the many routine questions of the residents.

Robear is a large, bear-like robot being developed in Japan for the purposes of caregiving, specifically those needs which revolve around mobility. Robear continues to be in clinical testing but has promise in lifting and transferring patients, which is a particularly needed caregiving function.

Assist Devices for Mobility Impaired  
The Panasonic corporation has an active interest in developing solutions for the mobility impaired. Panasonic’s “Resyone” is a bed to wheelchair converter. It is also testing a self support robotic device.

2nd Draft Proposal

I was initially thinking of adding in security problems with artificial intelligence with my research on robotics, but I went back to my original research topic of comparing both United States and Japan's use of robotics in healthcare for the elderly.

According to a wpi pdf on "The Emerging Role of Robotics in Personal Health Care", the definition of a robot is composed of three things: actuate, sense and process. " A robot is a machine that is capable of obtaining data from its environment by means of sensors, processing the data at least to some extent, and reacting to this data by means of actuators."(pg 41)

As noted in my earlier proposals, Japan is one of the countries actively exploring this field to tackle the aging population.They have created different types of robotic companions such as a robotic seal, a bear carebot, and robotic nurses. 

There are two different opinions about the robotic companions. They are either like what the authors of a KALW online article "Robotic seals comfort dementia patients but raise ethical concerns" mentioned; that it does not matter whether Paro is real or not in the long run as "humans are wired for connection". As Dr. Geoffrey Lane, the psychologist who brought Paro to the Livermore hospital asserts, "There's a pretty large body of evidence to show that interacting with animals can help things like lower blood pressure, reduce depression, reduce subjective pain, decrease the time it takes to recover from chronic ailments".  Or, they would be what Shannon Vallor, an ethicist and philosophy professor at Santa Clara University said, that nurses and therapists at the Livermore V.A does not explicitly tell patients that Paro the seal is a robot, instead, they play along with questions as if Paro is real. It just seems unfair for the dementia patients whose line between reality and imagination is already blurred. There's also another problem, and it has to do with us, the people who are actually doing the caring.

Shannon Vallor brought up some really good questions to ponder about:

1. What happens to our moral character and our virtues in a world where we increasingly have more and more opportunities to transfer our responsibilities for caring for others, to robots?

2. Where is the quality of those robots that increasingly encourages us to feel more comfortable with doing this, to feel less guilty about it, to feel that in fact maybe that's the best way that we can care for our loved ones?

I think she has a good point. It is helping therapists do their job better, and also helping the patients, but at the same time, it's an ethical concern that we are pushing our responsibilities onto robots.

As 2015 Pew Research Center article "Family Support in Graying Societies" mentioned, "Germany and Italy, two of the “oldest” nations in the world...are already where the U.S. will be in 2050: a fifth of the population in each country is age 65 or older. Compared with the U.S. today, a higher share of adults in Germany and Italy report helping their aging parents with basic tasks, and more in Italy have also provided personal care. However, in both countries, fewer adults than in the U.S. say they have provided financial assistance to their aging parents."

But is providing financial assistance for the elders, or helping out with basic tasks really enough?

Sometimes, we need a robotic companion or a robotic caretaker for the elders. As a 2014 New York Times article, "The Future of Robot Caregivers" noted, "in an ideal world, it would be: Each of us would have at least one kind and fully capable human caregiver to meet our physical and emotional needs as we age. But most of us do not live in an ideal world, and a reliable robot may be better than an unreliable or abusive person, or than no one at all."

Caregiving is a really hard work. I agree with the article that it is tedious, awkwardly intimate and physically and emotionally exhausting. Sometimes it's also dangerous as caregiving are almost always women's work and immigrants' work. They are usually strangers as well. 

Personally I have mixed feelings about caretakers, as I have personal experiences with them. My grandaunt, and my deceased grandmother have been taken care of by foreign caretakers in Malaysia since my family moved out of the country due to my father's work. And initially, it is alright as they could still walk and can communicate with the foreign caretakers, but in recent years, especially after my grandaunt fell and could not walk anymore, it has gotten difficult to take care of them. I am also very uncomfortable with having strangers living and taking care of my family members, but there was nothing I can do. They are the only ones able to take care of them until we go back to visit them. But there's always the concern of dangerous caretakers, or caretakers taking advantage of the elders. Of course, having a robotic caretaker may have ethical issues and safety concerns as well. I would also be worried of whether or not the robotic caretaker is able to call 911, in a case of emergency, or what if they don't provide the right help, and in turn harmed my family members?

But caregiving is a task that not just anybody is willing to do. Some countries have acknowledged this reality, and thus invested in robotics. Japan, especially, is one country that is actively researching this field in creating better robotic healthcare for the aging population.

Some other approaches, other than robotic companions like the robotic seal "Paro", are robotics use in clinical applications and in intelligent prosthetics.

The Dali walker or c-walker is a current project of the European Union and the Seimans Corporation.

"The Dali walker is a programmable walker with multiple digital sensing devices for use in individuals with memory loss, dementia. The sensor system allows the walker to perceive and interpret its spatial environment in real time. By its navigational capabilities, this technologically advanced walker is mentally functioning for as well as affording physical support. This potent combination of both physical and mental assistance is potentially invaluable to an elderly person, who may have become timid about venturing out alone, especially in crowded or unfamiliar public places." (Mayo Clinic's article "Robots/Robotics in Healthcare")

1. Clinical Applications.

1. Surgical robots have become extremely sophisticated, even allowing surgeons to operate them from thousands of miles away.  The da Vinci surgical robot system is a good example of the progress surgical robotics has made since its conception.
2. da Vinci System
1. One of the most well-known surgical robots, the da Vinci robot. More than 800 hospitals in the United States and Europe use the robot in various types of surgery. This system has been successfully applied in general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, urology, gynecology, and possibly otolaryngology. The da Vinci system is made up of three primary components (many other applications can be added on): a surgical cart, vision cart, and surgeon console.
3. Description about the figure "da Vinci Surgical System" (pg 44):



The end of the robotic arm contains surgical instruments. It is crafted to mimic “human-like” wrist motion. – Da Vinci System (Picture from Mayo Clinic's article "Robots/Robotics in Healthcare")

1. The surgical cart is a robotic manipulator with three arms: one camera arm with a 12mm stereoscopic laparoscope and two others arms that hold 8mm instruments. One interesting technology applied here is the EndoWrist Instruments technology. Tiny computer-enhanced mechanical wrists allow a full 7 degrees of freedom at the instrument tips. Instrument tips are aligned with the instrument controllers electronically to provide optimal hand-eye orientation and natural operative capability.
2. This innovative wrist was inspired from the Black Falcon of MIT. Overall visualization of operation is performed by the vision cart, which consist of two three-chip cameras mounted within one integrated and three dimensional 12mm stereo endoscope with two separate optical channels. The operative images are transmitted to a high-resolution binocular display at the surgeon console. The surgeon can see the operation in a 3-D (can be changed into 2-D) stereoscopic illustration on the console. Then he maneuvers robotic manipulators, which allow him to control the robotic arms and cameras.
3. This setup achieves more precise and accurate manipulations of instruments than those that can be achieved from conventional endoscopic surgery
4. da Vinci Surgical System - Peeling A Grape
5. Here are some of Mayo Clinic's views of the Da Vinci System in the article  "Robots/Robotics in Healthcare":
1. Advantages:
1. More controllable, and thus, potentially safer environment for both the patient and physician, increased precision of surgical manipulation, improved vision due to magnification, and better ergonomics for the operator. Due to the minimally invasive nature of the surgery, hospital stays for patients who have undergone robotic surgery are also shorter. Robotic surgery has an advantage over laparoscopic surgery, the other form of minimally invasive surgery, due to the aforementioned degree of motion of the robot “arm” and “wrist”. There is untapped potential for simulation of surgical procedures and techniques using surgical robotic systems. Finally, the global application/potential of these systems is just beginning to be imagined.
2. Robotic assisted surgical systems have been used extensively in urology for prostate surgery, and, less commonly, in general surgery and most surgical subspecialties. Additional applications for these surgical-assist robots are continually being developed, the latest for ophthalmic/eye surgery.
2. Disadvantages:
1. The degree of training required, and the cost, especially since patient outcomes are, overall, similar to traditional surgery. Surgeons have some difficulty adjusting to the lack of tactile input from operating with these machines.
4. Robot draw blood from a patient
5. "Telemedical Network is Key in Accessibility " -Robotics in Healthcare
1. InTouch Health in Action | InTouch Health's Telehealth Network
2. With InTouch Health, patients in remote areas will be able to have access to high-quality emergency consultations for stroke, cardiovascular, and burn services through the tablet or on the personal computer.
6. Bestic, the assistive eating robotic device

1. Developed in 2004 by Sten Hemmingsson who had suffered a crippling paralysis from polio. The device is designed to lift food from the plate to the mouth, and is controllable of the user by touch of a button. 
7. The “Sedasys” System – Anesthesia (Mayo's article)
1. It's a robotic machine that delivers anesthesia without an anesthesiologist. It has been developed for use in clinical settings and routine procedures such as colonoscopy and endoscopy. The rollout, by Johnson and Johnson, has been slow and the system is only used in four medical centers at this time, as the acceptance rate has been low due to fears regarding completely autonomous medical care .
1. 

1. Today, robots are capable of not only surgery, but also various other jobs in the field of health care, such as rehabilitating patients, providing/supporting professional care, and providing diagnostic assistance.

 Preventive Therapies and Diagnosis-Intelligent Fitness System

1.  Preventive therapies and diagnosis covers independent diagnostic methods such as robotized endoscope and teleoperation systems which independently monitor patients and preventive technologies such as intelligent fitness system and multiple objects motion/sound recognition system. 

Robotic Assistance Technology-Intelligent Prosthetics

1. Robotized assistance, such as intelligent prosthetics, robotized transportation system and manipulation assistances, is another important field of health care.
2. An example will be the robotized artificial ankle shown in the figure above. This mechanical ankle senses which phase of stride the ankle is on, and manipulates
   the angle of the bottom plates with springs.  The stored energy in the spring releases to the next phase of walking which saves between 14 and 23% of the energy spent using conventional prosthesis. 
3. Robot Suits and Exoskeletons: Musculoskeletal and Muscular Assistive Devices (Mayo's article "Robots/Robotics in Healthcare")

1. 

   “ReWalk” by ReWalk Robotics is a mobile lower body exoskeleton for walking assist and/or walking rehabilitation, and potentially a replacement to the wheel chair. It is the only such exoskeleton currently approved for home use by the FDA.

   
   

   

   A soft robotic grasp assist glove that's being developed at Harvard, is designed to assist any attempted movements of the hand. It is hoped that these gloves can help individuals regain some hand function both in their daily lives and in rehabilitation.

   YouTube video: Soft robotic gloves
   
   

   

   Ekso Bionics engineers has created this Ekso skeleton that may allow formerly wheelchair-bound users, the ability to walk.

   
   

   
   

   

   HAL robot suit / "bionic" suit (developed by Cyberdyne of Japan)  can be worn as a full body suit or a lower body suit. It is utilized in Japan for rehabilitation purposes, for generalized and specific muscular assist after injury, and for normal people who are in occupations where they need increased strength.

Links:
Robots/Robotics in Healthcare
Family Support in Graying Societies
The ethical dilemmas of robotics

Japan is running out of people to take care of the elderly, so it's making robots instead

Using A.I Robotics in Healthcare [Will reword]

First I will begin with the definition of robots. A robot is a machine that is capable of executing a complex series of actions automatically, especially one that's programmable by a computer.
According to a wpi pdf on "The Emerging Role of Robotics in Personal Health Care", the definition of a robot is composed of three things: actuate, sense and process. " a robot is a machine that is capable of obtaining data from its environment by means of sensors, processing the data at least to some extent, and reacting to this data by means of actuators."(pg 41)

In the research pdf, they also mentioned several focus areas of current technology and ongoing research in robotics within the health care industry. (pg 42-52)

Motivation of Health Care Industry

1. There are various reasons why health care has turned to robotics, such as an increasing
   elderly population, worker shortages, and increasing health care expenditures. 
2. Robotics technologies have been remarkably developed in numerous industries such as nuclear power, military, medicine, and health care.  These innovations in robotics significantly improved the health care industry and made it much more accessible to the general public. The progress of robotics in healthcare is driven by the health care needs of our society.  The overall quality of health care has increases as the technology associated with it develops.  As the quality of health care technology improves, the applications of the technology become much more specific, and this results in more specific fields of health care robotics

Clinical Applications.

1. Surgical robots have become extremely sophisticated, even allowing surgeons to operate them from thousands of miles away.  The da Vinci surgical robot system is a good example of the progress surgical robotics has made since its conception.
2. da Vinci System
1. One of the most well-known surgical robots, the da Vinci robot. More than 800 hospitals in the United States and Europe use the robot in various types of surgery. This system is undergoing considerable research and has been successfully applied in general surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, urology, gynecology, and possibly otolaryngology. The da Vinci system is made up of three primary components (many other applications can be added on): a surgical cart, vision cart, and surgeon console.
3. Description about the figure "da Vinci Surgical System" (pg 44):



The end of the robotic arm contains surgical instruments. It is crafted to mimic “human-like” wrist motion. – Da Vinci System (Picture from Mayo Clinic's article "Robots/Robotics in Healthcare")

1. The surgical cart is a robotic manipulator with three arms: one camera arm with a 12mm stereoscopic laparoscope and two others arms that hold 8mm instruments. One interesting technology applied here is the EndoWrist Instruments technology. Tiny computer-enhanced mechanical wrists allow a full 7 degrees of freedom at the instrument tips. Instrument tips are aligned with the instrument controllers electronically to provide optimal hand-eye orientation and natural operative capability.
2. This innovative wrist was inspired from the Black Falcon of MIT. Overall visualization of operation is performed by the vision cart, which consist of two three-chip cameras mounted within one integrated and three dimensional 12mm stereo endoscope with two separate optical channels. The operative images are transmitted to a high-resolution binocular display at the surgeon console. The surgeon can see the operation in a 3-D (can be changed into 2-D) stereoscopic illustration on the console. Then he maneuvers robotic manipulators, which allow him to control the robotic arms and cameras.
3. This setup achieves more precise and accurate manipulations of instruments than those that can be achieved from conventional endoscopic surgery
4. da Vinci Surgical System - Peeling A Grape
5. Here are some of Mayo Clinic's views of the Da Vinci System in the article  "Robots/Robotics in Healthcare":
1. Advantages:
1. More controlled, controllable, and thus, potentially safer environment for both the patient and physician, increased precision of surgical manipulation, improved vision due to magnification, and better ergonomics for the operator. Due to the minimally invasive nature of the surgery, hospital stays for patients having undergone robotic surgery are also shorter. Robotic surgery has an advantage over laparoscopic surgery, the other form of minimally invasive surgery, due to the aforementioned degree of motion of the robot “arm” and “wrist”. There is untapped potential for simulation of surgical procedures and techniques using surgical robotic systems. Finally, the global application/potential of these systems is just beginning to be imagined.
2. Robotic assisted surgical systems have been used extensively in urology for prostate surgery, and, less commonly, in general surgery and most surgical subspecialties. Additional applications for these surgical-assist robots are continually being developed, the latest for ophthalmic/eye surgery.
2. Disadvantages:
1. The degree of training required, and the cost, especially since patient outcomes are, overall, similar to traditional surgery. Surgeons have some difficulty adjusting to the lack of tactile input from operating with these machines.
4. Robot draw blood from a patient
5. "Telemedical Network is Key in Accessibility " -Robotics in Healthcare
1. InTouch Health in Action | InTouch Health's Telehealth Network
2. With InTouch Health, patients in remote areas have access to high-quality emergency consultations for stroke, cardiovascular, and burn services. On the patient’s side it can be accessed on a tablet or personal computer, and clinicians can also use the same type of devices as best suits their needs.
6. Bestic, the assistive eating robotic device

1. Developed in 2004 by Sten Hemmingsson who had suffered a crippling paralysis from polio. The device is designed to lift food from the plate to the mouth, and is controllable of the user by touch of a button. 
7. The “Sedasys” System – Anesthesia (Mayo's article)
1. It's a robotic machine that delivers anesthesia without an anesthesiologist. It has been developed for use in clinical settings and routine procedures such as colonoscopy and endoscopy. The rollout, by Johnson and Johnson, has been slow and the system is only used in four medical centers at this time, as the acceptance rate has been low due to fears regarding completely autonomous medical care .
1. 

Non-clinical Application Rehabilitation Therapy

1. Today, robots are capable of not only surgery, but also various other jobs in the field of health care, such as rehabilitating patients, providing/supporting professional care, and providing diagnostic assistance.
2. The "Paro" seal robot
1. This robot is intended to improve the health of the user by providing
   him/her with social interaction. Paro shows how increased social contact and networking affects the recovery cycle and psychological stability of humans. 
2. The robot was inspired from the fact that interacting with animals is emotionally
   beneficial to mankind.  The influence of social engagement on cognitive decline, particularly among elderly people, has been examined [65]. Paro is intended to counter the degenerative effects of lacking social interaction.  The first interesting attribute of this robot is appearance.  To make the robot seem inviting and friendly, the developers of the robot decided to model it after a baby harp seal covered with pure white fur.  Paro contains tactile receptors under its “skin” capable of recognizing and measuring physical contact.  The appearance of Paro can have a very positive effect on the acceptance of the robot by the users, particularly children  and elderly who don’t require highly technical functionality [66], [67].  This 2.8kg (6.17lb) seal robot has four primary senses: sight (light sensor), hearing (voice recognition system with direction determination), balance, and tactile.
3. Paro is a good example of how software can provide significant functionality with
   limited sensing and actuating components
3. Building off the topic on "Paro", in the article Robots Will Aid in Health Care as Population Ages, the author referenced a speaker at a RoboBusiness Conference in Boston, who said :  "the medical needs of the aging adult population will increase the market for robotics to assist them in health care. And Japan is one of the countries that are facing the crisis of low fertility rate, and growing numbers of elderly, thus scientists, researchers and healthcare technologists would try to depend on A.I robotics to help solve certain diseases.
4. The Dali walker or c-walker is a current project of the European Union and the Seimans Corporation

   

   "The Dali walker is a programmable walker with multiple digital sensing devices for use in individuals with memory loss, dementia. The sensor system allows the walker to perceive and interpret its spatial environment in real time. By its navigational capabilities, this technologically advanced walker is mentally functioning for as well as affording physical support. This potent combination of both physical and mental assistance is potentially invaluable to an elderly person, who may have become timid about venturing out alone, especially in crowded or unfamiliar public places." (Mayo Clinic's article "Robots/Robotics in Healthcare")

 Preventive Therapies and Diagnosis-Intelligent Fitness System 

1.  Preventive therapies and diagnosis covers independent diagnostic methods such as robotized endoscope and teleoperation systems which independently monitor patients and preventive technologies such as intelligent fitness system and multiple objects motion/sound recognition system. 

Robotic Assistance Technology-Intelligent Prosthetics

1. Robotized assistance, such as intelligent prosthetics, robotized transportation system and manipulation assistances, is another important field of health care.
2. An example will be the robotized artificial ankle shown in the figure above. This mechanical ankle senses which phase of stride the ankle is on, and manipulates
   the angle of the bottom plates with springs.  The stored energy in the spring releases to the next phase of walking which saves between 14 and 23% of the energy spent using conventional prosthesis. 
3. Robot Suits and Exoskeletons: Musculoskeletal and Muscular Assistive Devices (Mayo's article "Robots/Robotics in Healthcare")

1. 

   “ReWalk” by ReWalk Robotics is a mobile lower body exoskeleton for walking assist and/or walking rehabilitation, and potentially a replacement to the wheel chair. It is the only such exoskeleton currently approved for home use by the FDA.

   
   

   

   A soft robotic grasp assist glove that's being developed at Harvard, is designed to assist any attempted movements of the hand. It is hoped that these gloves can help individuals regain some hand function both in their daily lives and in rehabilitation.

   YouTube video: Soft robotic gloves
   
   

   

   Ekso Bionics engineers has created this Ekso skeleton that may allow formerly wheelchair-bound users, the ability to walk.

   
   

   
   

   

   HAL robot suit / "bionic" suit (developed by Cyberdyne of Japan)  can be worn as a full body suit or a lower body suit. It is utilized in Japan for rehabilitation purposes, for generalized and specific muscular assist after injury, and for normal people who are in occupations where they need increased strength.

Challenges with A.I..links

Preparing for the Challenge of Artificial Intelligence

•  

Ethical Issues in Advanced Artificial Intelligence

•  

 Foundations of artificial intelligence: The big issues

•  

Artificial Intelligence, Real Security Problems? Meet Frankenstein’s Children 

•  

Health IT Does Not Transform Healthcare; Healthcare Cannot Transform Without Health IT

•  

 WannaCry Ransomware Healthcare Disruption: Lessons Learned, Next Steps

•  

 How to initiate an intelligent healthcare transformation.

•  

 Cybercrime Hacking in Healthcare. How Does Your Security Compare?

•  

Making Healthcare More Human with Artificial Intelligence 

•  

• 
  

Ethical concerns with having a robotic companion

As mentioned earlier in my research proposal, Japan is one of the countries actively exploring the field of using A.I robotics to tackle the aging population. They have created different types of robotic companions such as a robotic seal, a bear carebot, and robotic nurses. However there are still some moral issues with having robotic companions.

Take the robotic seals for an example. The robotic seals comfort dementia patients ,but raises ethical concerns. The seal is not alive,and is just a robot called Paro, but the senior patients who have dementia or similar loss of cognitive function do not know. It is a type of tool known as a "carebot". In a KALW online article, the authors compares Paro to therapy dogs that go to hospitals, and states that it does not matter whether Paro is real or not in the long run as "humans are wired for connection". As Dr. Geoffrey Lane, the psychologist who brought Paro to the Livermore hospital asserts, "There's a pretty large body of evidence to show that interacting with animals can help things like lower blood pressure, reduce depression, reduce subjective pain, decrease the time it takes to recover from chronic ailments".

On the other hand, Shannon Vallor, an ethicist and philosophy professor at Santa Clara University thinks otherwise. She thinks that there are a few ethical issues to worry about when using carebots. Nurses and therapists at the Livermore V.A does not explicitly tell patients that Paro the seal is a robot, instead they play along with questions as if Paro is real. It just seems unfair for the dementia patients whose line between reality and imagination are already blurred. There's also another problem, and it has to do with us, the people who are actually doing the caring. As Shannon Vallor said "What happens to our moral character and our virtues in a world where we increasingly have more and more opportunities to transfer our responsibilities for caring for others, to robots? And where the quality of those robots increasingly encourages us to feel more comfortable with doing this, to feel less guilty about it, to feel in fact maybe like that's the best way that we can care for our loved ones?" I think she has a good point. It is helping therapists do their job better, and also helping the patients, but at the same time, it's the ethical concern that we are pushing our responsibilities onto robots.

More links:
The ethical dilemmas of robotics

Some interesting links on AI in healthcare/products that help improve our lives [Summary of each TBA]

4 ways healthcare is putting artificial intelligence, machine learning to use 

•  Medication adherence : "AiCure uses mobile technology and facial recognition to determine if the right person is taken the given drug at the right time."
• Healthy behavior: "Welltok tapped IBM's Watson superbrain to support its vision of connecting consumers with personalized activities.
• Support care givers: "Automated Insights put its natural language generation platform Wordsmith to work in a collaboration with Great Call"
• Drug development: "Biotech companies are also combining artificial intelligence and big data to identify new drug compounds, such as Cloud Pharmaceuticals and Berg. Johnson&Johnson and Sanofi are using Watson to find new targets for FDA approved drugs.

Intel Boosts Vision-based Contextual Computing With New Products

• Intel is using Convolutional Neural Network (CNNs) that mimics the biologic structure of human sight and use relatively little pre-processing compared to other image classification algorithms in their applications to help create a faster, and more accurate vision processing that can improve multiple business cases (drones, augmented reality, security and surveillance as well as robotics).
• The CNN network also have characteristics of filters that is in traditional algorithms that previously had to be designed by data scientists.

Artificial intelligence, robotics to be part of patient care at new Woodlands hospital

• Singapore's first hospital to adopt the widespread uses of technology
• Electronic wristbands similar to smart watches: will be used by nurses to monitor patients' conditions in the hospital and after the patient return home.
• The hospital aims to have features that : provide patients with the ability to track their schedule, and built-in sensors to conduct real-time monitoring of patients' heartbeat and sleep patterns.
• Robotics: food services, housekeeping and "central sterile supplies unit to free up more time for staff to attend to the personal needs of patients."

Using artificial intelligence to improve early breast cancer detection 

• Published last Tuesday October 17th,2017,  researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) has developed a model that uses artificial intelligence to improve early breast cancer detection. It is said that the model could reduce false positives and unnecessary surgeries.

IBM and MIT to pursue joint research in artificial intelligence, establish new MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab 

• "IBM plans to make a 10-year, $240 million investment to create the MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab in partnership with MIT. The lab will carry out fundamental artificial intelligence (AI) research and seek to propel scientific breakthroughs that unlock the potential of AI. The collaboration aims to advance AI hardware, software, and algorithms related to deep learning and other areas; increase AI’s impact on industries, such as health care and cybersecurity; and explore the economic and ethical implications of AI on society. IBM’s $240 million investment in the lab will support research by IBM and MIT scientists."
• Joint research to push the boundaries in AI science and technology in several areas, including: AI algorithms, physics of AI, application of AI to industries, and advancing shared prosperity through AI

Using machine learning to improve patient care

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Robots/Robotics in Healthcare 

 How Healthcare Can Prep for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

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Artificial Intelligence Will Redesign Healthcare

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Artificial intelligence set to revolutionize future occupational health delivery 

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare Market Expected to Reach $22,790 Million by 2023, Globally

How AI is transforming healthcare and solving problems in 2017

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How Alibaba Is Using Artificial Intelligence In Healthcare

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12 Ways Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Health Care 

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Doctors say IBM Watson is nowhere close to being the revolution in cancer treatment

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Is AI Dangerous? That Depends… 

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Artificial Intelligence-Applications in healthcare 

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Summary of research proposal: Using A.I robotics in Healthcare

In a recent Bloomberg magazine news article "Life, Or Something Like It", the article talked about how Mark Sagar, who “mastered the art of creating super-lifelike faces” is now working to build people from the inside out. He is creating a virtual baby that thinks and acts like a human baby. This article, as well as a short clip on a robotic seal in healthcare for elderly in Japan, made me want to learn more about the use of AI or robotics in healthcare systems, especially as care and companionship for the elderly. Many leading companies are exploring AI capabilities by using them to detect cancer, remote surgery, telemedicine, etc.

Japan is one of the countries actively exploring this field to tackle the aging population. They have created a robotic seal, a bear carebot, and other robotic nurse, and companionships for the elderly. I wanted to research more in depth on how countries all over the world incorporate AI into their healthcare system, as well as the benefits and challenges with information security or privacy, while using the method of the alternative healthcare. I will mainly focus on Japan, United States, but I will also look into how some of the other high-tech countries like South Korea, Singapore deal with medical, social needs. But there’s still some ethical concerns, so I would like to research the pros and cons of having A.I robotic caretaker and how it could actually help out the elders.