Robots May Find a Place in Basic Health Care
Robots which have been employed more and more for industrial and commercial use, may soon go to work in hospitals and nursing homes, freeing health professionals for more skilled tasks.
Scientists expect the development of mechanical devices to help flex stiff joints of patients in physical therapy, bathe elderly people in nursing homes, assist surgeons in operating rooms and process blood or urine samples in medical laboratories.
In Japan, scientists already have built and clinically tested a two-armed robot manipulator that can transfer patients between hospital cart and bed. Some hospitals in the United States have experimental mobile robot carts that follow preset paths to deliver meals and linen.
“Robots have a potentially rich and complex future in medicine,” said Larry Leifer, a Stanford University professor of mechanical engineering who envisions robots rolling down hospital corridors delivering some forms of routine patient care.
At the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Medical Center, Leifer heads a Rehabilitation Research and Development team of medical and engineering experts who are developing robotic devices to help the disabled.
Dr. Paul Haber, who directs programs for the elderly at the VA Hospital, said he is a strong advocate of robot technology to help older patients.
“We don’t want to depersonalize nursing homes, but many nursing tasks are boring, difficult, unpleasant and demeaning for both patient and caretaker.”
Robots, he said, could help with such things as using the toilet, bathing, feeding, transferring and grooming patients.
Patients requiring 24-hour attendance could gain partial independence through the use of robotic aids, Leifer said.
“Disabled individuals live at a level of intimacy with a caretaker that most people very rarely choose on their own,” he said. “They swallow their pride and do it--they have to--but they would prefer to take care of themselves.”
The major product of the VA team has been the development of a microcomputer-directed mechanical arm that manipulates objects in response to voice commands and small physical movements of its operator.
The two-fingered robotic arm can respond to 58 verbal commands and has a joy stick that can be used to control its movement as far as 18 inches, with six degrees of freedom in up, down, left, right, forward or reverse directions. It also can be programmed to carry out a planned sequence of movements.
Although the robotic arm is seen as a tool for replacing a lost function, it is not likely to become a prosthetic device designed to replace anatomy.
However, Leifer said, its dexterity could nonetheless help loosen the shackles of paralysis for an estimated 40,000 quadriplegics in the United States and assist another 200,000 people with severe physical limitations.
In the future, he sees robot physical therapists helping patients to build back strength and dexterity. In surgery, they could assist by applying clamps, fetching materials or holding and passing instruments. Robots also could do such routine chores as rearranging pillows, replacing bedpans, checking sensors and helping patients roll over in bed.
However, the robotic arm at present is very limited in mobility because it’s bolted to a table. Its ability to define objects using optical sensors in a simple two-fingered hand also needs improvement.
Leifer said a future model may incorporate “whisker” sensors that could lightly brush object surfaces, enabling the robotic hand to scan contours in a nearly tactile fashion. The new machine also will be designed in a wheel-like contraption that will enable it to move through doorways and be steered remotely by ultrasonic sensors placed on the backs of wheelchairs.
