The robot boom is coming to healthcare, but not so much for drones

Hospitals are planning to ramp up the use of robots in the next one to three years -- and the momentum will include clinical applications as well as automating simple tasks. "Robots can deliver value by automating manual and laborious tasks," IDC Health Insights research director Mutaz Shegewi said. "But they will also be increasingly adopted for direct clinical applications and emergent use cases." IDC investigated healthcare providers' plans for both robots and drones. As of now, 31.3 percent of participants told IDC they have robots in action and the consultancy anticipates their use will become more common as healthcare entities better understand how they can automate processes, mitigate expenses and improve clinical care delivery.