Robotics in Biomedicine

          Biomedical robotics seeks to solve the current shortcomings that exist within the medical field. Society constantly strives for new methods of aiding the physically and mentally impaired with new creations and ideas, revolutionizing the healthcare system and its capabilities. By reflecting on the achievements and shortcomings of past and present technologies, a prediction for future issues can be made, lowering the margin of error in not only testing, but also implementing the use of new technologies. Many experts anticipate the integration of robotics in medicine to revolutionize healthcare. Surgical robots that assist in expediting surgery and three dimensional organ printing are just a few or many achievements illustrating the potential of biomedical robotics. Further research is needed to fully implement such creations into practical procedures, but professionals anticipate their influence to lead biomedicine towards positive growth. 

          Professionals will be working with mechanical assistance, but there is a possibility that future professionals will be too heavily reliant on technology. There a possibility that the younger generation will grow to lack the basic skills that their presiders had, or even worse, their original focus. There is a possibility that humanity will gain too much control over naturally occurring phenomena, making the artificial indistinguishable from the natural. The development of soft tissue robotics, the integration of tissue and mechanical engineering, has the potential to create fully functioning limbs for victims of amputation or innate handicaps. The development is exciting and has the potential to give many patients more natural looking alternatives to standard prosthetics, but all in all may not be entirely necessary. Soft tissue robotics could potentially become more of a cosmetic procedure than a necessity for patients. The aesthetic that this project could provide would, for many, outweigh the functionality that a more efficient robotic limb would provide a patient with, simply because of the patient’s own negative body image. 

            While soft tissue robotics may not be entirely morally sound, that is not to say that it is not revolutionary. When thinking about robots the general consensus is that these structures are machines made of rigid metals or synthetic plastics. Harvard University Labs has recently launched a tool kit that allows consumers to build and operate soft robots, mechanisms with a flexible base material. The kit does not contain the basic parts necessary for building said structures, but it does delve into detail regarding how to build them. With this technology so easily accessible, it is clear that robotics in biomedicine is much further along than many could have anticipated.