Healthcare Robots

Current advances in robotic healthcare are set to revolutionize the medical field. In recent years, there has been a significant rise in the number of autonomous robotic systems (ARS) in the field of medicine. These state-of-the-art ARS have been applied in the healthcare domain to improve outcomes in surgical operations, care of the elderly, patient rehabilitation, and assistive and companion purposes. In particular, current advances in soft robotics offer tactile human-robot interactions (HRI) which improve the safety of HRI, adaptability to wearable devices, and for use in surgical instruments such as endoscopes. The materials used in these robots and tactile interaction devices possess deformable properties which can interact safely with the body, thereby improving health outcomes and narrowing the gap between engineered systems and natural organisms.