Building a surgical robot in India…
Robots have been aiding the industrial and manufacturing sectors for a very long time. And similarly, many other sectors like entertainment (eg mocoBot) have embraced robots for their own betterment and Unsurprisingly, Their induction into the surgical space enabled the surgeons to perform surgeries in a better way. Most surgical robots meet the demand for precise minimally invasive surgery that contribute to faster healing, higher accuracy, lower pain, and lesser incision for the patient.
In India, due to the increasing need for facilitating better healthcare reach out to rural, and semi-urban areas and more importantly for providing advanced minimally invasive surgery for a huge, diverse, and a growing population, there is a great need for an economically viable advanced robotic surgical system.
The most famous robotic surgical platform Da-Vinci was developed by Intuitive surgical in the US. The system is equipped with an advanced motion control system that can replicate the dexterity of a human hand in a surgical scenario and a 3D vision system captures the images very accurately to facilitate greater accuracy and stability. The system is very well appreciated by the medical community as it eliminates the problem of surgeon fatigue. However, such an advanced robot demands a huge initial investment of up to $1,500,000 and a yearly recurring cost of US $100,000 for maintenance. This is a major obstacle to adopting advanced surgical systems and techniques in India. Though looking at these facts there is a huge opportunity for an economically viable advanced robotic surgical system in the Indian market that is believed to grow three folds in the next couple of years. With the high availability of talented physicians and low costs, medical tourism in India itself is currently a 2 billion dollar industry now and robotic surgery would fuel its growth by attracting other nearby developing countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. To satisfy this growing need for building a novel robotic surgical system, our team at HTIC — IIT Madras has been working to develop a robotic system that can guide doctors to perform accurate pedicle screw insertions in the spine for surgeries related to spine decompression, scoliosis, etc.
Making a surgical robot requires interdisciplinary collaboration and the application of theories and technologies in medicine, mechanics, robotics, optics, computer science, and control. The whole design and development process has to meet certain niche requirements for elaborate collaborations across different verticals and subsystems. Our system leverages a collaborative robot for easier integration and a navigation system for tool tracking and surgical planning.
This project would facilitate a better distribution of healthcare infrastructure across India as a robot stationed in a remote village in India is almost equivalent to an expert surgeon stationed in a PHC. Though these robots can’t completely replace an expert surgeon in the operation theatre, these systems would serve as a third eye with which the surgeon can ensure accurate placement of screws in the patient’s anatomy as the robot's repeatability and accuracy is far far greater than any human’s capability.
To be frankly said, a major disadvantage to proving this claim is the lack of data to showcase the true benefits of robotic surgery in India. No systematic reviews or analyses contrasting the differences between robotic surgery to conventional surgery have failed to show the advantage of robotic surgery over conventional methods. Whereas in the west, there is strict quality control in place by keeping a tab on the extended stays and readmission rates for every surgeon, “Indian hospitals do not have such robust checks and balances,” is what recent publications claim. The assessment of the actual benefit of robotic surgery in the Indian population becomes more difficult, but that doesn’t stop some things from happening when it's the technology that is going to take over.
I believe robots will be more influential than printing machines and no less impactful than personal computers in the ascent of man. So until then, continue to “Robotize” tedious, mundane, inefficient, and unproductive tasks. Happy Engineering !!!
