Current Development in the Robotics Industry - Essay Example

?Yilmaz Yigit Tokman EGR 150 Jeffrey Peirce Robotic Technology Current advances in robotic technology have led to several developments in industrialization. Robotic technology has been used for particular activities like painting, welding and in dangerous manufacturing environments. Great advances in technology have enabled robotic technology to be used in manufacturing, logistics, medicine, and healthcare among other sectors. The industry currently transforms the next generation to a machine based generation. Most countries will be influenced economically, socially and politically. Studies reveal America has not embraced the technology as compared to other countries like Japan and the Europe world. The country has taken a step in involving stakeholders to research on robotic technological advances in the country. The stakeholders include companies, laboratories, and universities. The purposes of the stakeholders are; one, look at the impact of the technology in the future development of the country economically, socially and on security needs of the country. Two, identify challenges linked with the technologically scientifically and technologically. Three, look at possible steps to be used to address the challenges. The credibility of the research was based on twelve world class researchers from robotic academic institutions. This report discusses the impact of robotic technology to the US manufacturing industry. The country’s economy has faced several challenges and need vibrant ways that will strengthen it. The country has embarked on research about the new form of technology that will enhance economic growth. Technological advances are expensive but with proper programming and strategy leads to economic growth of a country. Revitalization of the manufacturing industry will probably trigger growth in several sectors of the economy. The sectors that will rely on robotic technology are media, IP companies, service and medical industry, home appliances, capital equipment, automotive industry, logistics and automation. Exponential growth of these sectors will probably spur the country’s economic growth. Research and education play key role in robotic technology. Executive Summary Transformation of the country today and tomorrow stands as a crucial agenda. Technological advances in computer have made great strides to the country. Despite the great strides, the quest for better technology still exists. America has lagged being robotic technology in comparison to the Europe world. The Europe and Asian world has enjoyed advances in this form of technology. The quest for adoption of robotic technology has advanced and triggered investment and formation of research based institutions. Adoption of robotic technology has increased human augmentation solutions and applications in critical sectors in relation to affordability and value. Robotic technology is facilitated by the productive aging population. The technology offers investment opportunities potential for creation of new jobs, increased productivity and safety for workers. These offers trigger economic growth in an era that needs security for services. Several workshops held set goals in spans of five years for implementation of robotic applications. Required technological advances required for robotic technology were identified as well as their potential. Medical robots have made significant progress in medicine world in the last decade. Several advantages are associated with operations done by robots. Operations like prostate cancer operations minimize invasive surgery that include small incisions, less time spent in hospital thereby reducing risks related to infection. Fast recovery is encouraged with few side effects. Quality care in health is improved. Periods taken in surgical operations from work are significant to economic benefits. Currently, the numbers of times robots are used in medical procedure are minimal. With advances in robotic technology, use of robots in medical world is likely to increase. Imaging facilities and feedback to surgeon and an integrated process are improved. Robotic technology in the world of medicine possesses economic potential. Robotical technology addresses affordability, quality, and personalization. Risk-benefit and cost benefit ratios are improved substantially. Medical robotics is viable for prostate and surgical surgery procedures. Rehabilitation and intelligent prostheses are recovered by robots. Inaccessible areas in heath care are like rural, post-disaster and battle field areas that lack expertise work force are supplemented with tele-medicine and assistive robots. Assistive robotics monitor, coach and motivate cognitive and physical exercises in preventing and rehabilitation to promote reintegration in the society. Studies of demographics reveal that the aged dominate the society and therefore need for companionship to minimize isolation and depression is important. Medical robots enhance early screening, continual assessment and affordable interventions vital for therapy. The pursuits stated in robotic technology in medicine maintain and improve productivity of workforce and the size of the workforce. People with disabilities are also empowered by the technology since their numbers increase in the workforce. Advances in robotic technology in USA assists in quality life that aims at the population’s special needs and the elderly too. Participants involved in robotic technology are experts in surgical robotics, prostheses, implants, rehabilitation robotics and socially assistive robotics. Representatives from corporations and startups, health insurance providers were involved in the scheme. Insights from communities were highlighted as well as areas of expertise. Common interests and challenges were acknowledged and used in the progress of road mapping effort. Findings Robotic technology in the medical field operates from the operating room to the family, the population that uses the technology, that is, from the young to old, infirm to able bodied and interaction modalities. Technical challenges associated to the technology depend on the complexity of the environment. Problem domains identified of largest impact are in surgery and intervention, replacement of lost functions, recovery and rehabilitation, behavioral therapy, and wellness and promotion of the society. Challenges linked to technological advances and research are; intuitive human-robot interaction and interfaces, understanding of human behavior by machines, automated understanding of emotional and psychological states of human beings, adaptation to user’s changing needs and quantitative diagnosis and assessment. Problems are also related to understanding of image guide intervention and manipulation of scales. Solutions towards the challenges indentified were incorporation of reliable and continuous operations in human environment, privacy, security, interoperability, acceptability and trust. New innovations in the field have been affected by lack of funds to facilitate and develop engineering, health and business sectors. List of Exhibits Introduction Robots are commonly used in manufacturing world and other repetitive labor. Industrial robots were designed for automation in dirty, dull and dangerous tasks while medical and health robots deal with direct interaction with human users in surgical theater, rehabilitation center and the family room. Telerobotics like da Vinci Surgical System are used to perform surgeries that offer reliable results and shorter recovery periods. Accurate and medical interventions performed by robots form part of computer-integrated surgery systems in hospitals. Integration of computers and use of robotics play important roles in surgery and radiology. Medical personnel are trained through simulations from haptic devices (Georgia Institute of Technology and Etal. 24). Physical and occupational therapy are delivered by robot systems like MIT-Manus or InMotion. Treatment offered by robots is intensive and satisfy the patients’ needs. Robotic technology has therefore proven to be effective than conventional means of treatment especially in treatment of stroke. Convalescence and rehabilitation processes in medical procedures can be done by robots in the near future. Behavioral disorders like autism spectrum disorder, ADHD and other prevalent situations among children today can be tackled by robots. Robots play a role in augmentation of basic research in human health. A robotic system with biology mimics can study and test the human body and brain functions. The robots also acquire data from biological systems in an accurate manner and help in gaining insights into physical and social behavior. Robotic technological advances inspire new developments in treatment of various diseases and disorders. This in returns improves the standards, accessible health care and enhances patient health outcomes. Societal Drivers Robotic technology addresses societal drivers in improving healthcare. The drivers are divided into two categories: broaden access to health care and improve prevention and patient outcomes. Medical procedures are improved by robotic technology thereby reduce side effects of surgery as well as be less invasive. Quick recovery and improved production by workers is realized. Innovations in micro-scale interventions and smart prostheses improve risk-benefit and cost-benefit ratios. Medical errors that arise from use of robots need to be curbed through training of medical practitioners. Approaches initiated in accountability and assessment or certification is essential. The improvements will automatically lower costs to the society. Improved quality in health care means few complications, shorter hospital stays and increased efficiency. Through eradication of such, medical costs would probably be lowered. 15% of the American population is uninsured while most are under insured. This situation prevents most citizens from access to good health care. Patients cannot access preventive or early treatment hence worsening health situations. The cost of healthcare cannot be afforded by all. With reduced costs in interactive therapy robots encourages quality healthcare to the less fortunate. Innovations of affordable in-home technologies motivate and coach exercises necessary for prevention and rehabilitation. This domain encourages care taken for the elderly, promote ageing at home, offer companionship, motivate physical exercise participation, and mitigate isolation and depression. Location plays key role in access to healthcare. Disasters cause human injury and when it occurs in unstructured environments, quality healthcare cannot be accessed. Natural disasters like earthquakes floods and hurricanes serve as examples. Manmade disasters like battlefield injury fields, terrorist attacks, space, undersea and underground mining happen far away from medical centers. Some rural populations are found in areas far away from medical centers. Such like scenarios are served best with telemedicine and assistive robotics. Increase in population raises the need for improved access to quality healthcare. A projection is made on growth of the elderly in US by 40% in the year 2030. Countries like Japan and Europe would probably double their aged at 65% and 50% respectively. Medical advances have increased the lifespan of many, reduced birthrates resulting to an ageing society. The projected demographic trend will affect industrial production, housing and continued education as well as healthcare. Increased population in old age means many injuries, disorders and diseases. Health trends reveal increases in life-long conditions like diabetes, autism, obesity and cancer. According to American Cancer Society, 1,437,180 new cancer cases were recorded in 2008. Invasive cancer cases tend to increase with age. Such like a trend reveal need for personalized healthcare. 750,000 people suffer from stroke annually. This rate tends to increase with time. Stroke patients need rehabilitation in attempt to regain function and reduce disability. The demand for therapists is high which cannot be met by the current workforce. Children are prone to Cerebral Palsy (CP). Neurodevelopmental and cognitive disorders increase spontaneously. Results received from early screening and diagnosis, transparent monitoring and continuous health assessment will lead to savings in costs just like intervention and therapy. Accessible and affordable technology remains to be essential in facilitation of wellness, personalized and home-based healthcare. The societal drive relies on increased life-long independence. It includes; increasing ability of the aged, improve mobility, reduce loneliness, and depression. Health education and literacy facilitates and is augmented with improved safety and monitoring. This will in turn avoid mis-medication, improve ways of taking medication and monitor falls, lack of activity and other negative signals. Strategic Findings Surgical robots are now used in operating rooms for two decades. They are encouraged because of their accuracy, visualization and their possibilities of using new procedures. Currently, surgeons control the robots in surgical rooms. A human operator controls a master input device and patient-side robot follows the input. The robots allow surgeons to have dexterity in the patient’s body, reduce operator motions from human dimensions to small distances. The surgeon provides intuitive connection between operator and instrument tips. The surgeon is in a position to cut, cauterize and suture accurately better than initial operations carried out. A workstation for surgical operations contains robotic devices and real time imaging devices to empower vision used in operation field in the course of surgery. Future surgical workstations will offer several computer and physical enhancements. Seamless displays will provide data in surgeon’s field of view. Surgical motions will be easily recognized and the patient’s state easily evaluated. Health performance and predictions about the patient will be simplified. Availability of right information will enhance several medical procedures that can be planned before time. The proper planning facilitates execution of work in an organized and reasonable way. Supervisory roles over the robot will remain for human beings. Surgical Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing will aid preparation of joint reconstructions in orthopedic surgery. Technological advancements in imaging, tissue modeling and needle steering will be more integrated and will not use the needle guide. Human beings will play the role of identifying the target, plan and approve proposed path. He then supervises the robot as it drives the needle to the target (Georgia Institute of Technology and Etal. 27). Replacement of Lost Function Limbs with limited movement or control no longer need orthotic and prosthetic devices. Robotic features and neural integration are currently replacing them. Robotic orthoses are designed in an exoskeleton manner that envelopes the body part that requires attention. In most cases, these devices focus on military applications and rehabilitation centers. They allow free motion of limbs as well as providing required support. The only disadvantage that accompanies model is the cost allocated to it. Prosthesis is an artificial body part replaced after loss by injury or congenital. Mechanical devices are used in the process to fuse an artificial extension with human muscle, skeleton and nervous system. Current devices are limited in capability because they are signaled to operate mechanically or electromyrography (EMG).robotic devices uses replication of many joints and limb segments to emulate the missing body part. The model uses seamless neural integration to provide intuitive control of the limb and touch feedbacks to the wearer. The challenge faced by the model is on costs incurred by patients for the process. Robot-Assisted Recovery and Rehabilitation Patients suffering from neuromuscular injuries or diseases need neurorehabilitation. The current process used exploits use-dependent plasticity of human neuromuscular system. Sensory motor therapy is time-consuming and labor-intensive. The outcome is of significance in terms patient health care costs and return to productive labor. Robots are an alternative to human-only therapy because of several advantages. Robots provide consistent, lengthy and personalized therapy without tiring. With the use of sensors robots acquire data necessary for recovery quantification. In some situations, robots implement therapy exercises that cannot be done by human therapists. Robots retrain upper and lower limb movement abilities to patients recovering from neural stroke. The robots provide different forms of mechanical input like assisting, resisting and stretching depending on the subject’s real-time response. Behavioral Therapy Achievement of convalescence, rehabilitation and management of cognitive social and physical disorders needs continuous behavioral therapy. Available health care is needed in provision and coaching of behavior therapy. Socially assistive robotics (SAR) is a new field of study in robotics and focuses on addressing developing robots. The model develops systems that assist users socially rather than physical interaction. The robots are capable of monitoring, motivating, encourage and sustain activities and performances by human beings (Georgia Institute of Technology and Etal. 29). Through this interaction promote quality of life to population users, the elderly and individuals with cognitive impairments. Human-Robot Interaction is a common interest for engineers, health scientists, psychologists, social scientists and cognitive scientists. Assistive robots need to understand and interact with its environment. Wellness/Health Promotion Fundamental goals of health care are to improve and prevent patient outcomes. Personalized ways of promoting good health lies on right eating, exercise and maintenance of mental health. These strategies decrease urgent and chronic health issues. Despite this, most people ignore these principles. Prevention-oriented research provides significant measures for the demographic trend. Generally, they do not support basic research but support evaluation trials provided by new technologies aimed at preventing and promoting health. Capabilities of Robotic Technology For integration of robotic technology in the medical and healthcare field, certain capabilities must be checked. Use of robots involves physical interaction between medics, patients and robots. An intuitive physical Human-Human Robot interaction requires classic elements of the robotic system. The classic elements involve sense, perception and action. Motions and forces of a surgeon to synchronize their intention need to be recorded. The robot should also provide feedback that the human operator can use. Systems that can detect and read human signals like vision, haptics and sound are needed. Such like systems are difficult to implement. The design of a system that collaborates between human and robots poses a great challenge. Robots operate in passive, static environment unlike human beings. Movements in human beings are termed as psycho logic and complex. This complexity is probably implicated in a surgeon’s motions during surgery. In physical interaction with a robot, the human being is central in integral part of a closed-loop feedback system. Simultaneous exchange of information and energy with robotic system cannot be categorized under external system input. The closed-loop feedback system often closes the human force and visual feedback with errors and delays. Such errors cause instability in human-robot system that does not guarantee safe intuitive and physical interactions between robots and humans. How can these errors be eradicated? Approaches available to offer solution to the errors need to be used in parallel. One, human beings can be modeled with adequate information. Two, human physical behavior should be sensed in all dimensions. Three, develop robot behaviors that enables appropriate human interaction regardless of human behavior. Despite great strides in robotic technology in the last decades, successes in developing systems to eradicate errors have failed. The tasks ahead are; robots should have sophisticated understanding of human motions based on external sensors and brain-machine interfaces within the next five years. Appropriate mapping is required between human thoughts and robotic actions of prosthetic limb. In the next ten years, robots should sense human motions to provide context-appropriate forces to human operators. In the process of sensing human motions, robots should infer intent signals that are useful and important for the user. After fifteen years, robotic system should provide physical feedback to human operator in specific appropriate haptic feedback. Detecting emotional states of robots remain a complex idea to researchers. This incapability makes robots not effective for health related applications involving vulnerable users. Study of emotional recognition has been done through voice and speech signals, facial data and physiological data. Emotional understanding can only be derived from a combination of activity recognition, physiological data processing and multi-modal perception. Processing of multi-channel data and reconciliation of inconsistencies assists in emotional understanding. Personality has an impact in the welfare of patients. Doctors who are emotional perform well in the well being of patients. The aspect of perception about machines in relation to emotions remains a complex issue. Measures of frustration, fatigue and interest do not offer an understanding adequate enough for robots to synthesize signals. These signals are highly individualized signals complex to visualize and analyze. Conclusions With the current development in the robotics industry, robots are poised to provide better interaction with humans, as compared to computers. This is because robots are user friendly due to their ability to affect gestures, facial expressions, and motions that are positive aspects of communication and learning. Robots are poised to take over as the new medium in medicine because of the characteristics they possess. Research that has been carried out has proved that home and medical robots are of great importance in the medical world. Robots are superior in attracting and maintaining medical technology. . Work Cited Georgia Institute of Technology and Etal. "A Roadmap for US Robotics; From Internet to Robotics" vol. 21, 2009. Web. Accessed on 8th April 2012. http://www.us robotics.us/reports/CCC%20Report.pdf Read More