There seems to be a modern day gold rush as companies explore how to use machine learning in clinical decision support software. Unfortunately for libertarians, FDA will regulate some of that software because of its risk profile. While the 21st Century Cures Act that passed last December exempted certain CDS from regulation and indeed FDA intends to exempt even more, FDA will continue to regulate high risk CDS. The question is: how will FDA regulate high risk CDS when the software involves machine learning? Some might assume that machine learning in healthcare is so new, we have no idea how FDA will react.

Xavier University has launched the Xavier Center for Artificial Intelligence, an effort to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence to improve healthcare. "We're bringing together the major global players in artificial intelligence to focus on technology that could transform the healthcare industry," said Marla Phillips, director of Xavier Health, which runs the Center for AI. "We believe the implementation of AI in the healthcare field is needed now more than ever." Xavier Health, formed in 2008, is a center in the College of Professional Sciences charged with making a difference in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries by building bridges between the industries and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Center for AI is a collaborative effort involving all three of Xavier's colleges – Arts & Sciences, Professional Sciences and the Williams College of Business – presenting new academic opportunities for students across the campus, the center said.

Exoskeletons don't come cheap and they're not one size fits all, making them a daunting prospect for the average buyer. But, some companies are working towards changing that. In December, Hyundai promised to make the suits cheaper. And, researchers are using machine learning to make them more accessible for people with mobility issues. That's where Bionik Laboratories comes in.

The FDA approved the country's first human-interacting autonomous robot for hospitals on Thursday. The RP-VITA, made by iRobot (best known to consumers as the makers of the Roomba) and InTouch Health, is a human-sized telepresence robot which allows doctors to remotely interact with hospital patients. The robot can navigate hospital corridors autonomously, while medical professionals talk and interact with patients through a special iPad app. The Food and Drug Administration has given the RP-VITA full 510(k) clearance for hospital use.

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a rare genetic disorder that sabotages the retina's ability to respond to light by disabling rod photoreceptors. The National Eye Institute estimates that one in 4,000 people around the world suffer from the disorder. In the UK however, people who have lost their sight to RP may soon have hope as the National Health Service (NHS) funds the implantation of a device among ten patients to help treat this form of blindness. The Argus II Bionic Eye implant works in tandem with a small camera mounted on a pair of glasses that is worn by the patient. Images from the camera are converted into wireless signals via electrodes attached to the retina.

Tech companies and investors have recently been piling money into artificial intelligence--and plenty has been trickling down to chip maker Nvidia. The company's revenues have climbed as it has started making hardware customized for machine-learning algorithms and use cases such as autonomous cars. At the company's annual developer conference in San Jose, California, this week, the company's CEO Jensen Huang spoke to MIT Technology Review about how the machine-learning revolution is just starting. Nvidia has benefitted from a rapid explosion of investment in machine learning from tech companies. Can this rapid growth in the use cases for machine learning continue?

"The eyes are the window to the soul," the adage goes, but these days our eyes could be better compared to our ethernet connection to the world. According to a 2006 study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania, the human retina is capable of transmitting 10 million bits of information per second. But for as potent as our visual capabilities are, there's a whole lot that can go wrong with the human eye. Cataracts, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are three of the leading causes of blindness the world over. Though we may not have robotic ocular prosthetics just yet, a number of recent ophthalmological advancements will help keep the blinds over those windows from being lowered.

DARPA announced on Monday that it has selected its five grant recipients for the Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program, which it began at the start of this year. Brown University, Columbia University, The Seeing and Hearing Foundation, the John B. Pierce Laboratory, Paradromics Inc and the University of California, Berkeley will all receive multi-million dollar grants to help develop various aspects of the emerging technology. The goal of the NESD program is to develop "an implantable system able to provide precision communication between the brain and the digital world," according to a DARPA release. Also known as "wetware", these brain-computer interfaces would effectively convert the chemical and electrical signals from the brain into machine readable data, and vice versa. Ultimately, the program's operators hope that neural interfaces will be able to communicate with up to 100 million neurons in parallel (though still a far cry from the 86 billion that our brains use in total).

Medicine has come unimaginably far over the last century, driven by brilliant committed people and technology. In the last 20 years, we have seen the introduction of monoclonal antibody drugs, robotic surgery, and astounding intravascular treatments. All of medicine is entering a renaissance with a multitude of minimally invasive techniques and advancements. As we see the'old fashioned' physical exam go by the wayside as technology supplants and enhances our diagnostics by leaps and bounds. With cheap and plentiful EKG machines, how much less do we rely on a stethoscope?

The biblical narrative of the Garden of Eden describes how the snake became the most cursed of all beasts: "you shall walk on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life." The reptile's eternal punishment is no longer feared but embraced for its versatility and flexibility. The snake is fast approaching as one of the most celebrated robotic creatures for roboticists worldwide in out maneuvering rovers and humanoids. Last week, while General Electric experienced a tumult in its management structure, its Aviation unit completed the acquisition of OC Robotics – a leader in serpent arm design. GE stated that it believes OC's robots will be useful for jet engine maintenance, enabling repairs to be conducted while the engine is still attached to the wing by wiggling into parts where no human hand could survive.