Here comes the medical "Iron Man"

The picture shows a medical robot for the frontline application of the "epidemic". Jia Xuan

At present, the wave of "artificial intelligence +" is sweeping the world, gradually penetrates into the medical field in peacetime and wartime, and medical robots are beginning to emerge.

Medical robots usually refer to those who have the simple thinking of medical staff for treatment and ambulance, can independently formulate a simple operation diagnosis plan, determine the treatment and ambulance procedure according to the actual situation, and then change the action to similar to the behavior of medical staff for hospitals and clinics Medical or paramedical intelligent service robot. According to different uses, it can be divided into clinical medical robots, nursing robots, medical teaching robots and robots for the disabled.

Its birth is overturning the traditional diagnosis and treatment model with medical personnel as the mainstay and medical equipment as the supplement.

The robot war "is epidemic"

Recently, some hospitals in Beijing have successively appeared contactless unmanned distribution robots, which can distribute drugs, medical equipment, meals, etc. to the quarantine area to prevent cross infection. For example, in the corridor of Beijing Shijitan Hospital, a contactless, unmanned delivery robot was walking while reminding people repeatedly: "In this special period, we must wear masks, wash our hands and pay attention to hygiene."

Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia outbreak, medical robots have demonstrated their skills and fought side by side with frontline medical personnel to fight the epidemic. They are like "iron men" who are not invading, and they are tirelessly busy and charging, completing a war "epidemic" task that people have given them.

Non-contact disinfection. Anti-virus disinfection is a daily work that must be performed in the epidemic area, and it is an important measure to cut off the source of virus infection. In Wuhan Xiehe Hospital, medical robots replace the medical staff, regularly turn on the ultraviolet disinfection lamp and air filter device, and spray mist disinfectant from the top to a certain space area until the anti-virus disinfection task is completed along the preset route. The intelligent killing robot at Wuhan Vulcan Mountain Hospital can complete the task of killing viruses in polluted areas, effectively reducing the risk of infection and reducing the workload of medical staff.

Remote temperature measurement. Body temperature measurement is the first line of defense for epidemic prevention and control, and it is also the main task of daily inspection of epidemic prevention. Thousands of patrol patrol robots are currently the first domestic patrol robots for measuring body temperature, which can achieve rapid temperature measurement of people in dense places such as railway stations, airports, and dock entrances within 5 meters of infrared. According to reports, the robot can measure 10 people at a time, the error is 0.5 degrees Celsius, and it can quickly record and track in real time, and immediately report the alarm to those who have high body temperature.

No contagious meal delivery in the quarantine area. For epidemic prevention and control, the quarantine area is the "fence wall" between the patient and the outside world. Unrelated personnel are strictly prohibited from entering. In this case, the medical robots of Wuhan Central Hospital, Wuhan University People's Hospital, Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital, and Wuhan Chutian Hospital flexibly shuttle between the hospital's quarantine area and take care of delivering meals and medicines for medical staff and patients. Duties.

Call for troubleshooting. For the prevention and control of the epidemic, front-line staff must not only conduct house-to-house investigations, but also call and inquire at any time to learn about the activities of the residents, so that they can make early judgments and prevent problems before they occur. At this time, you can take advantage of the medical robot's spoken dialogue system to assume the work of front-line personnel: call out from the fixed phone to conduct community residents investigation, quickly find out their health and mobility, and collect, return visits, summarize, and classify personnel information. After analysis and judgment, a statistical report is generated to help the local community committees quickly collect the health information of the residents in the area and map out the epidemic situation, so as to achieve early warning, prevention and control during the event, and follow-up after the event.

Outbreak inquiry service. With the help of a medical robot online question and answer service, residents can learn about the new crown virus virus medical prevention and control knowledge at home, and get much-needed online consultation, epidemic monitoring, drug delivery and other services. An intelligent robot doctor on duty at Beijing Ditan Hospital can provide patients with non-contact 24-hour consultation and guidance services.

Can serve in peacetime and emergency in wartime

Undoubtedly, the emergence of medical robots with many functions during the epidemic prevention and control has reduced the probability of human infection with the virus, made up for the lack of medical support, and increased work efficiency.

According to the British "Guardian", on January 22, local time in the United Kingdom, in order to prevent the spread of the epidemic, a medical center in Washington, U.S.A. used robots to undertake some of the treatment tasks for the first patient with new coronary pneumonia in the United States. This is another attempt of medical robots in the practice of epidemic prevention and control. It will definitely further develop towards the direction of clinicians and clinical nurses, and it will play an indispensable and even irreplaceable medical security role in peacetime and emergency situations.

Clinical medical robots include surgical robots, diagnostic robots, and therapeutic robots that can perform precise surgical operations or diagnosis. For example, the Da Vinci system, a surgical robot developed by American scientists, was initially used for the exploration of outer space to provide medical protection for astronauts. At present, this surgical robot has been certified by the US Food and Drug Administration, and has been introduced and used in clinics by many hospitals worldwide. It has 4 mechanical tentacles, which can accurately perform heart valve repair and cancerous tissue resection under the control of a doctor. NASA also plans to conduct medical robotic operation experiments in underwater laboratories and spacecraft. By that time, doctors can operate underwater and outer space operations through computers on land thousands of miles away.

In the UK, scientists have developed a nursing robot to share the burdensome and trivial care of nursing staff. This kind of nursing robot is highly intelligent and can help medical staff to confirm the identity of the patient and distribute the required medicines accurately; it can also measure the patient's temperature, clean the ward, and even help doctors understand the patient's condition in time through video transmission, etc. Wait.

The "autonomous first aid system" and "traumatic trauma management system" invested in research and development by the US military are beginning to pioneer the application of medical robots in battlefields. Battlefield experience shows that if soldiers are treated within an hour of being injured, their chances of survival will be greatly increased. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Defense show that the U.S. Army killed 3243 officers and soldiers during the Iraq war and the number of injured soared to 11,877. Many of them died because they did not receive timely treatment. A robot doctor who goes deep into the front line and is not afraid of the war can fight for this precious hour for the soldiers. Within minutes of the soldiers being injured, he can quickly stabilize his injuries, infusion, drug administration, anesthesia, aspiration of fluid, oxygen delivery, suture wounds, Control the temperature of the wounded. The robot doctor can even talk to the wounded and ask them where they are uncomfortable, soothing the wounded.

It is reported that the Pentagon has also signed a contract with a high-tech company under the California Stanford Research Institute to manufacture multifunctional robots, including a robot doctor named "healing machine".

Can the future replace humans

A sudden epidemic has brought medical robots to the epidemic, and will also accelerate the pace of artificial intelligence companies in the medical field.

According to statistics from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), the size of China's intelligent medical robot market will reach 3.4 billion yuan in 2018, and it is estimated that by 2025, the scale of China's intelligent medical robot market will exceed 10 billion yuan. It can be predicted that medical robots will be able to conduct online consultations and remote medical treatments in the future. Medical O2O Internet medical enterprises will make rapid progress. At the same time, intelligent medical products will use 5G technology, AI technology, and the Internet of Things to achieve intelligent medical integration.

International medical experts predict that nano-robots are also expected in the future to achieve "microscopic" treatment or direct delivery of drugs to diseased cells of patients. At that time, medical robots can become our family health doctors, monitor human health changes through sensors in real time, and build a communication bridge between doctors and patients. People can get high-quality medical service guarantees without leaving home.

Because of the emergence and continuous development of medical robot technology, the argument that medical robots may replace medical workers in the future has been endless and has become a hot topic of controversy in the global medical community. In fact, in a "human-computer-intelligent society", medical robots are invented, designed, and controlled by humans. Humans are undoubtedly the most vivid and active factor and the master of development. Medical robots are machines that cannot be left uncontrolled and completely independent of medical workers.

Of course, while emphasizing this decisive role of humans, we cannot ignore the huge potential of medical robots. Judging from the current situation, the research and development of medical robots is still in its infancy, and it does not yet have the ability of deep thinking of humans. It only has a programmatic function and cannot escape human control. There is still a long way to go before the thinking of medical robots gradually approaches the human brain, with the ability to think independently, analyze and judge.

Wei Yuejiang