Awards Announced for ‘Next Generation’ of Healthcare Robots
Are you ready for the next generation of healthcare robots?
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is, and it has announced the funding of six projects aimed at accelerating the development and expanded use of robotics in healthcare.
Robotic devices are already used in some hospitals, for example, helping to make surgeries less invasive.
Advances in robotics could “result in more successful surgeries, better and faster recovery for stroke patients, and improvements in drug development and testing,” Francis S. Collins, MD, director of NIH, said in a Sept. 18 press release. “Affordable, accessible robotic technology can facilitate wellness and personalized, home-based healthcare, especially for the growing elderly and disabled population.”
Funding for the six projects is expected to total $4.4 million over the next four years. The projects will focus on the development of:
- A robotic system to be used for the assembly of artificial tissues (University of Hawaii, Manoa)
- A robot that “assists in automatically and optically guiding minimally invasive surgery,” which could prove particularly valuable with the removal of brain tumors (University of Washington, Seattle)
- More flexible and better controlled leg prostheses and robotic rehabilitation devices (Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh)
- High-performance prostheses for below the knee, focusing on the ankle (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa)
- Pill-sized robots to diagnose and treat ailments in the gastrointestinal tract (Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh)
- A brain machine interface (BMI) device to help stroke victims in their recovery (Rice University, Houston)
The NIH is partnering with the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund the projects.
For more information on the projects, click here.
The cover story of the September/October 2011 issue of AAMI’s peer-reviewed journal, BI&T (Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology), examined the growth of robotics in healthcare, detailing the implications for the device industry and healthcare technology management professionals. To read the story, click here.
Posted: October 1, 2012