While attending CES 2020 earlier this month, VM’s Andrew Karp had the opportunity to do a little brain surgery while roaming the aisles of the Health and Wellness Pavillion. Actually, it was virtual brain surgery, and he performed it using a spatial computing system developed by Magic Leap and Brainlab that allows real world and virtual images to be merged and manipulated. Karp reported that although he had no idea what he was doing, he saw real brain surgeons putting the system through its paces, to good effect.

Just as futuristic technology such as this is expanding the possibilities of medicine, so is robotics. As research firm CB Insights pointed out in its report “AI in Healthcare,” robotics in medicine can help to reduce human error, improve recovery time, and reduce hospital stays, ultimately enhancing patients’ quality of life.

“The first medical robotic application appeared in 1985, when an early robotic surgical arm assisted in a neurosurgical biopsy surgery,” CB Insights noted. “Fifteen years later, the first fully FDA-approved system (known as the da Vinci surgery system) for laparoscopic surgery emerged, giving surgeons the ability to control surgical instruments indirectly via a console.

“Today, companies are leveraging advances in the tech to develop new robotic applications to explore the future of medicine—including those related to bionics, disease discovery, and rehabilitation.

“Elon Musk’s Neuralink, for example, is working to develop cutting-edge technology to give amputees a better connection to their prosthetics. Auto giant Toyota is developing solutions to serve an aging population, while Johnson & Johnson is heavily investing in medical robotics.

“From bionic body parts to microrobots you can swallow like pills, robots are coming to a hospital near you—no medical degree required,” CB Insights concluded.

This infographic, created by CB Insights, shows the many ways in which robots are playing an increasingly important role in health care.

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