A better outlook for all? How modern innovations are empowering the visually impaired

12

September

2024

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The presentation in our lecture of how AR glasses can help hearing impaired persons communicate better with their peers really inspired me to look into further cases where technological innovations have improved the quality of life for others – with a focus on visually impaired persons. Being able to “see” ones environment and interacting with it is a huge contribution to independence, which leads to a better quality of life. I would know, as I am completely dependent on my glasses!

I have compiled a few examples that I found very interesting – however there are many more out there!

Envision Glasses

Envision Glasses are AI powered smart glasses that use ChatGPT, Google glass Hardware, 5G connectivity to allow blind people to read printed text and process visual information by converting speech to text. While this Amsterdam based company was mentioned (but not yet discussed in class) I still wanted to highlight it here anyway, as their technology is really impressive. (Wie, 2023)

HearSee Mobility

HearSee takes a well known aid to the visually impaired – a cane – and improves it by using navigation tools to help the blind navigate to their destination. The users can press a button and say “Navigate to XY”. The cane sends signals to an App which in turn gives the user audible instructions on how to get to their destination. (Johnson, 2022)

.Lumen

This German start-up claims they “digitized” the guide dog that pulls blind people safely through different environments. The device, which is worn like a headband, scans and maps the surrounding area by using the same tech that self driving cars are using. If the glasses detect an obstacle, they send haptic feedback to the user, thereby “pulling” them away, just like the guide dog would. (Acces Tech Live, 2024)

Closing thoughts

Seeing how much development is already happening makes one optimistic about the future. I think it is especially fascinating that these technologies all tackle the same task (helping the visually impaired) very differently using different tech and hardware, giving users the freedom to choose what would best help them. As mentioned above, this list is by no means exhaustive and I can only encourage anyone to look up some of the amazing products that are being developed.

I wrote this blog post before knowing that we would be having a guest lecture from Envision glasses – I am really looking forward to the next lecture now, especially to see how my impression and the impression of my colleagues of this type of innovation will be in real life!

Resources used:

Access Tech Live. (2024, February 26). .Lumen Access Tech Live Talks Lumen Glasses for the Visually Impaired [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFkCkACbrJw

Johnson, M. (2022, July 1). Three Technologies For The Visually Impaired. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2022/07/01/three-technologies-for-the-visually-impaired/

Wie, W. (2023, December 15). Envision glasses use ChatGPT and Google Glass to help blind and low vision [Video]. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/envision-glasses-chatgpt-google-glass-help-blind-visually-impaired-2023-12?international=true&r=US&IR=T

All images used in this blog post were generate by ChatGPT

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Running Towards a Healthier Lifestyle with ChatGPT: My Journey to the Half Marathon

16

October

2023

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In my earlier blog, I have talked about nutrition and using ChatGPT as a nutritional guide. However, having a healthy lifestyle isn’t just about eating habits, it’s also about staying active and fit. For me, running became a preferred choice over traditional gym workouts, aligning more with my personal preferences. My father used to be a marathon runner, and I remember cycling with him as he trained for those marathons. Those moments left a lasting impression on me, and I later came to understand and share his passion for the sport. This change in my fitness routine brought along the goal of completing a half marathon in Breda on may 19th 2024, a challenge that requires structured training. In this blog, I will share how ChatGPT is playing an essential role in setting up my training schedule, , incorporating interval training and setting intermediate training goals,

One of the first hurdles I encountered was creating a structured training plan that would prepare me for the half marathon. ChatGPT helped me develop a training routine based on my fitness level, available time, and the specific race date. It took into account factors like gradually increasing distances, rest days, and the importance of cross-training. I was able to run 5 kilometers in 27 minutes and I used this as a baseline in my prompt.


As you can see, the aim is to increase my weekly running distance by 2 km, and on the second day of the week, I would run 1 km less than I did on the first day.

In the second month of my half marathon training journey, ChatGPT recommended incorporating interval training into my schedule. This addition enabled me to further optimize my training and improve my running performance. In addition, interval training helped me prevent training plateaus, since the body tends to adapt to the same workout over time.

I’ve always been really competitive and I’ve found that one of the best ways to motivate myself is by setting ambitious intermediate goals during my training. These goals not only make running more enjoyable and challenging, but also provide a clear way to track my progress. Knowing this, I asked ChatGPT to incorporate this in my training schedule for October. I asked ChatGPT to set the first intermediate goal in week 7 and the second intermediate goal in week 10. I was convinced that I would improve measurably within three weeks.

My journey to a healthier lifestyle through healthier nutrition and running was significantly enriched by the assistance of ChatGPT. It facilitated my training schedule, incorporated interval training and helped me set intermediate goals to keep me on track. I am eager to use ChatGPT as an training assistant for the upcoming months! As I continue to train, I look forward to running the half marathon in Breda.

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AI4Covid: Effective AI covid-tests using only cough sounds

3

October

2022

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In the fight against the coronavirus, early and accurate diagnosis is vital. To this day most common tests still rely on antibodies, therefore results are often only conclusive after several days and not reliable enough.

Researchers in the field of automated cough classification have been working on another strategy: They adapted a supervised machine-learning algorithm that detects slight differences in coughs and can diagnose or rule out respiratory infections accordingly. 

This tool is supposed to automatically identify cough sounds and define them pursuant to certain parameters. AI makes it possible to compare patterns with other coughs and diagnose instantaneously. Cough sounds are especially informative because the sounds correlate with tissue structure in the respiratory organs, in addition to providing insight to the behavior of surrounding organs and structures.

The most challenging aspect of the studies is to find the most significant features, on which grounds to train the machine-learning system. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has based their program on the four attributes: Muscular degradation, vocal cord strength, sentiment as well as respiratory and lung performance (Saplakoglu, 2020). For their program thousands of volunteers uploaded forced coughs and filled out information on their health status, symptoms and covid infection. While a large group of cases were then used to train the machine-learning system, another was used to function as a test group. Although results were very encouraging, transferring this success out of the laboratory provided a challenge, since cough sound not only vary on respiratory function, but many other parameters, such as mother-tongue and gender. Therefore investigation continued and showed that time-frequency representation of a cough successfully aided in achieving higher quality results. So far the best model is Random Forest with an accuracy of 90% (Tena, Clarià and Solsona, 2022).

These cough related covid tests have the potential to contain the pandemic in a more efficient way, as they would – if installed as an app on phones – not need high cost data evaluation in labs and would therefore be more easily accessible and affordable. Also AI can spot covid infections sooner than rapid covid tests can and would therefore be a strong advantage to the prevention of high spreading.

References

Saplakoglu, Y. (2020). Newsela [online] newsela.com. Available at: https://newsela.com/read/ai-detect-covid19-cough/id/2001015957/%C2%A0/https://newsela.com/read/ai-detect-covid19-cough/id/2001015957/%C2%A0/ [Accessed 2 Oct. 2022].
Tena, A., Clarià, F. and Solsona, F. (2022). Automated detection of COVID-19 cough. Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, [online] 71, p.103175. doi:10.1016/j.bspc.2021.103175. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1746809421007722  [Accessed 1 Oct. 2022].
Detecting COVID-19 through cough sounds. (n.d.). www.nature.com. [online] Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/d42473-022-00294-9 [Accessed 2 Oct. 2022].

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Horse Racing: Reduction of Death Cases using Modern Technology

30

September

2022

5/5 (2)

Although for years Horse Racing has been popular for its thrill and the opportunity to place bets, it has been increasingly targeted with criticism by the public for its numerous fatal injuries – not only concerning horses, but also jockeys. In order to cast off this unfavorable reputation, the British Horse Racing Authority (BHA) has established means to reduce mid race injuries, such as obligatory pre-race examinations. 

With the general amelioration of medical technology, those health check-ups strongly increased in significance. Especially the refinement of the MRI has fostered an early detection of illnesses or injuries, like small ruptures of muscle tissue or tendons. Over the last five years, this is estimated to have averted about 30% of fatal equine injuries (EBR, 2022). 

Next to MRIs, ultrasound and thermal imaging cameras that are used to monitor a horse’s temperature post race, other technologies have been developed specifically for this sport. 

The University of Bath has designed an equine fitness tracker referred to as EquiVi (the Guardian, 2019). This device includes three sensors, which are placed on the horse’s body during practice or a race. The sensors are able to continuously measure important vital signs, such as blood pressure, temperature and respiratory rate, and transfer this data simultaneously via a wireless connection to a digital device. This enables coaches, owners and veterinarians to track the horse’s welfare during extreme physical exertion and adapt its training and racing schedule accordingly. In addition, the relation of the visible performance and cardiovascular activity can be examined, which is again very conclusive about the horse’s true level of fitness. Lead researcher Dr. Ben Metcalfe stresses the benefits of such an non-intrusive monitoring device as the horse is not exposed to any damaging influences (www.bath.ac.uk, 2019).

The risk reduction for fatal equine injuries automatically minimises health threats for the jockey. Still, accidents can and do occur, which led the BHA to ask the University of Bath for another research project. Through remodeling countless falls of jockeys accessible in the digital race archive, they are working to better understand and treat common injuries such as concussions and injuries involving the spinal cord. 

These different approaches to not only prevent mid-race injuries, but also maximise a positive treatment outcome, are only possible through the newest technological innovations. Therefore nowadays, modern technology even contributes to the safety and with it the continued existence of one of the oldest and most traditional sports.

References:
the Guardian. (2019). Equine fitness trackers could save lives of racehorses. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/mar/30/racehorses-to-be-fitted-with-life-savingfitness-sensors [Accessed 29 Sep. 2022].
Incze, G. (2022). How Horse Racing Has Embraced Technological Innovations. [online] European Gaming Industry News. Available at: https://europeangaming.eu/portal/latest-news/2022/03/02/110251/how-horse-racing-has-embraced-technological-innovations/ [Accessed 29 Sep. 2022].
EBR, E. (2022). How Technology Has Changed Horse Racing. [online] The European Business Review. Available at: https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/how-technology-has-changed-horse-racing/ [Accessed 29 Sep. 2022].
www.bath.ac.uk. (2019). Boost to horse welfare and performance thanks to new monitoring device. [online] Available at: https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/boost-to-horse-welfare-and-performance-thanks-to-new-monitoring-device/ [Accessed 29 Sep. 2022].

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Will blockchain technology revolutionize the food supply chain industry?

26

September

2021

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There is no one who denies that blockchain is going to disrupt many sectors. With the emerge of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) everyone will have access to financial services (e.g. trading, lending, borrowing, payments) in the future without the fulfilling the requirements of traditional financial entities (Sheinix, 2020). However, besides DeFi there is another huge real-world blockchain application that might benefit our safety, health and climate; food supply chain traceability.

Today’s food producing companies seek for a more precise and accurate supply chain food traceability as their consumers are demanding that their food is both safe and environmental-friendly produced. Take for instance the outbreak of the E. coli outbreak that was linked to Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants, which was caused by the lack of transparency across their supply chain. In addition, the global damage as a result of ‘food fraud’ and lack of food traceability is estimated at $50b per annum (Bindt, 2016). Traceability refers to tracking the whole process from production to consumption; it is all about safe food trade, ensure trust among supply chain participants and to prevent future disease outbreaks. 

There are several reasons of why blockchain technology will contribute to a greener and safer food supply chain. First, blockchain technology provides better traceability. All food trades and concerned transactions cannot be deleted afterwards or hidden as every change is tracked, recorded and showed to the all blockchain network participants (e.g. producer, distributor, supermarkets, and consumers). Second, blockchain technology stores all data in a decentralized ledger. This means that there is no single server or entity who has the power to keep food information hidden; multiple copies across the world are saved on different computers. (Civati, 2021) As the fundamental core competences of blockchain technology relies on trust, transparency and no need for central authority, this technology are particularly helpful with: 

  • Hampering food damage or preventing food fraud
  • Realizing on-time mass  recalls of contaminated food as more accurate and precise food information is provided
  • Decreasing food spoiling
  • Stimulating food companies to produce fair-trade food and pay their suppliers fair prices for the products they buy. 
  • Strengthening the relationship between food companies and their customers. 

Although the potential of blockchain technology on the food supply chain seems promising, there is one main limitation to consider. In order to successfully adapt blockchain in the food supply chain, the overall cost of implementing such a technology is highly unpredictable because of its relative young existence (Simal-Gandara, Galvez, & Mejuto, 2018). Nevertheless, as major companies such as Walmart and Nestlé adopting blockchain technology, I truly that more companies will follow them in order to achieve a common goal; a safer and healthier life for all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV0KXBxSoio
Video 1: Walmart’s food safety solution using IBM Food Trust built on the IBM Blockchain Platform

References:

Sheinix. (2020, January 27). DeFi: The Future of Finance? From Medium: https://medium.com/swlh/defi-the-future-of-finance-757c35a2bcfd

Bindt, V. (2016). Costs and benefits of the Food Fraud Vulnerability Assessment in the Dutch food supply chain.Wageningen : Wageningen University.

Civati, A. (2021, April 9). Blockchain & Food Traceability. From LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/blockchain-food-traceability-alessandro-civati/

Simal-Gandara, J., Galvez, J., & Mejuto, J. (2018). Future challenges on the use of blockchain for food traceability analysis. TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry , 222-232.

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Back to the office or does remote working stimulate the quality of life?

26

September

2021

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There has been clear communication that advocates two opposing views adopting cloud based (remote) working for the quality of life: a firm should stimulate remote working versus a firm should stimulate offline working. According to C. Jalagat and M. Jalagat (2019), remote working can be defined as performing work – from any location where Wi-Fi is present and  Cloud Computing is adopted by the company – other than the location of the employer. I believe that adapting cloud computing is beneficial for our daily life. Even after the Covid-19 pandemic as well (see Figure 1).

The first benefit of remote working is that the sickness rate is 0.5 lower among people who work remotely compared to those who work in the office (PWC, s.a.). PWC hypothesizes that remote workers can give more attention to their children, their stress levels drop significantly, and burnout problems are prevented. The second benefit is that remote working via cloud services – most of that eco-friendly generated – increases air quality and protects our climate; in city of Phoenix it resulted in 1.3 million fewer miles driven, which equates to over 47,000 pounds less air pollutant emissions each day (Irwin, 2004). Higher air quality is correlated with a longer average life span, and therefore, it is important that we ensure our own future and the future of today’s youth. 

There are also two disadvantages. The first disadvantage is that companies that encourage remote working deliberately expect their employees to be available at all times (Bijen, 2021). She argues that remote workers are continuously busy with finishing their notifications after work hours; it disrupts daily routines such as eating or raising children (Manocka , 2020). The second drawback is that remote working contribute to the disappearance of many management positions. Current technology is capable of continuously tracking and assessing employees for productivity, thus, companies are experiencing a lesser need for managers to make decisions on behalf of their employees (Morse, 2020). 

I believe that our health and prevent air pollution is central to the quality of life. Quality of life is  subjective and is complicated to measure. However, what is our life worth if we experience health issues, or if in five years’ time it is determined that we will not meet the Paris Agreement? One could argue against my position that health can be maintained without remote working. While people are indeed capable of taking personal responsibility for maintaining their health, we must remember that people cannot tackle this problem individually. There is also concern that remote working may mean that companies expect us to sacrifice our free time for work. However, the Dutch government is working on a bill that would give homeworkers more rights to remain unreachable after work (Bijen, 2021). As a well-known saying goes, “Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important in life”.

Figure 1: Worldwide Public Cloud Services End-User Spending Forecast (Millions of U.S. Dollars)

References:

Jalagat, C., & Jalagat, M. (2019). RATIONALIZING REMOTE WORKING CONCEPT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY. Global Journal of Advanced Research, 95-100.

PWC. (z.j.). The costs and benefits of working from home. PWC.

Irwin, F. (2004, Januari). GAINING THE AIR QUALITY AND CLIMATE BENEFIT FROM TELEWORK. Retrieved from http://pdf.wri.org/teleworkguide.pdf

Bijen, M. (2021). Wetsvoorstel: thuiswerker moet recht krijgen onbereikbaar te zijn buiten werktijd. Retrieved from Het Parool: https://www.parool.nl/nederland/wetsvoorstel-thuiswerker-moet-recht-krijgen-onbereikbaar-te-zijn-buiten-werktijd~b88e4da5/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

Morse, J. (2020, December). Amazon announces new employee tracking tech, and customers are lining up. Retrieved from Mashable: https://mashable.com/article/amazon-aws-panorama-worker-customer-tracking-technology-smart-cameras/?europe=true

Manocka, I. (2020). Covid-19: Teleworking, Surveillance and 24/7 Work. Some Reflexions on the Expected Growth of Remote Work After the Pandemic. Political Anthropological Research on International Social Sciences (PARISS).

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Will Artificial intelligence replace our doctors?

2

October

2018

5/5 (1) There is a worldwide shortage of doctors. More than half of the world population doesn’t have of has bad access to healthcare. The waiting lines are very long in a lot of places. AI could offer a solution here, giving more people access to health advice of good quality.

Although artificial intelligence (AI) is still in the early stages of testing and adoption in the healthcare space, many say it will have a huge impact in this field. Some even say it will gradually come to replace doctors.

Babylon Health, a company based in the United Kingdom, is testing an AI medical chatbot in Rwanda. It works like this: a patient enters information into the chatbot. The chatbot then aggregates the data and suggests solutions for the patient. It recommends the patient to see a doctor or to get a prescription rather than diagnosing him/her, although Babylon claims it could. Babylon also launched a site with the same idea, making it possible for people around the world to fill in their symptoms and get possible diagnosis.

Even though some are sceptical about the accuracy of the new ‘doctor’, the chatbot even passed mock medical exams with a higher score compared to a human doctor. Furthermore, in questions it had seen before, it had 98% accuracy, so once a machine learns something, it never forgets.

Although a lot of benefits are scientifically proven, some senior doctors are sceptical of the claims robots will replace humans, stating the human aspect of health will remain too important and can never fully be replaced by a robot.

 

What are your thoughts about this topic? Would you want to be seen by artificial intelligence instead of a human doctor? Do you think it could be possible that a machine can completely replace a doctor and is it ethical to replace doctors by artificial intelligence?

 

 

 

Babylon Health (2018). Babylon Health. [online] Available at: https://www.babylonhealth.com/news [Accessed 29 Sep. 2018].

Norman, A.(2018). Your future doctor may not be human. This is the rise of AI in medicine. [online] Futurism. Available at: https://futurism.com/ai-medicine-doctor [Accessed 30 Sep. 2018].

Vallancien, G.(2016). Tomorrow’s doctors will be replaced by machines, so their role will be that of advisor. [online] L’Atelier BNP Paribas. Available at: https://atelier.bnpparibas/en/health/article/tomorrow-s-doctors-replaced-machines-role-advisor [Accessed 29 Sep. 2018].

Wilson, C.(2018). Is an AI chatbot really better than a human doctor? [online] New Scientist. Available at: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2173056-is-an-ai-chatbot-really-better-than-a-human-doctor/ [Accessed 29 Sep. 2018].

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How AI is saving lives

16

September

2018

5/5 (1) As the world becomes more connected, diseases are able to spread more rapidly. To prevent this from happening, the World Health Organization (WHO) has used various Epidemic Intelligence Tools over the last couple of decades. By monitoring various data sources, these tools try to detect future epidemics and monitor current outbreaks. These tools are becoming increasingly important to fight diseases and save lives. In 2017, the Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources (EIOS) initiative was launched by WHO. The system was released on August 6th, 2018 and had already proven to be valuable.

Epidemic intelligence works in a continuous cycle of 8 steps. The first step is the collection of data from various sources. Examples of these sources are social media, national surveillance and laboratory networks. After the data is collected, it is processed to make sure that duplicate data is deleted and the data is linked to the correct diseases and locations. Thereafter, the system tries to detect patterns which suggest disease outbreaks. These possible outbreaks then need to be verified by lab confirmation, field verification or credible local sources. The situation gets analysed and the risk is determined. After making a visual representation of the current (and future) situation, action is taken if necessary. As new data is collected continuously, this cycle never stops.

The key feature from the new EIOS system is the large number of data sources. Over 8000 data sources are used to detect over half a million pieces information per month. This leads to 7000 signals, which are manually screened for relevance by the staff of WHO. After investigation, 100 events are investigated and 10 risk assessments are made each month.

During the first weeks that the EIOS system has been used, it has already detected several outbreaks which would have been detected in a later stage otherwise. For example, the cholera outbreak in Algeria and the leptospirosis outbreak in India have been detected in an early stage, enabling WHO to react quickly and save lives. These cases show demonstrate the potential to use data to improve global health.

Over the next period of time, WHO plans to further improve the EIOS system. One of the main priorities is to use speech-to-text technology to include radio sources to the system. This is especially valuable in poor regions, where radio still is one of the main methods of communication. Features like this could help WHO to further improve EIOS and save more lives.

 

 

This article is based on a presentation by Dr Oliver Morgan, Director Health Emergency and Risk Assessment – WHO Health Emergencies Program. Dr Oliver Morgan was one of the speakers at Intelligent Health 2018, an international congress on the use of artificial intelligent in health care. For more information about Intelligent Health, visit https://intelligenthealth.ai/

This presentation is not online accessible. However, a similar PowerPoint presentation can be found at: http://www.oie.int/eng/BIOTHREAT2017/Presentations/6.2_BARBOZA-presentation.pdf
Please note that this is not the version of that was used at Intelligent Health on September 13th 2018.

Article on cholera outbreak in Algeria: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/algeria-person-dies-cholera-outbreak-180825173701802.html

Article on leptospirosis outbreak in India: https://www.news18.com/news/india/as-leptospirosis-threat-looms-after-floods-kerala-plots-30-day-micro-plan-1860783.html

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Robots Taking Over Surgical Procedures

25

September

2017

5/5 (2)  

 

 

Would you believe me if I said that in 5 years’ time the number of doctors in the world might be halved? Can you imagine being surgically operated by a robot? This sounds like something from a futuristic movie, however this in fact already happening.

Robotic assisted surgery (RAS) allows surgeons to perform a variety of complex procedures with more precision, flexibility and control than what was previously possible (Mayo Clinic, 2017). In 2000 Robotic surgery with the da Vinci Surgical System was approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Since this time, the use of robotic assistance in surgery has expanded exponentially (Kirkpatrick and LaGrange, 2017). This system includes a camera arm and mechanical arm each with surgical instruments attached to them. The surgeon sits behind a computer with a console which gives the surgeon a magnified 3D high-definition view.

So why would people rather be surgically operated by a robot than a professionally trained surgeon?

Robotic assisted surgery offers many advantages as it makes surgical procedures minimally invasive. Typical advantages include fewer complications, less pain and blood loss, quicker recovery, smaller scars and quicker procedures (Mayo Clinic, 2017).  Furthermore, the improved ergonomics and dexterity compared to traditional procedures allow for a shorter learning curve for surgeons (Kirkpatrick and LaGrange, 2017).

New robotic drill performs surgery 50 times faster than before. The University of Utah has created an automated machine which reduces a complicated cranial surgery from two hours to two-and-a-half minutes. (Yurieff, 2017)

Often times patients travel from afar in order to be treated or operated by certain specialized surgeons. With robotic surgery it may be possible to eventually complete surgical procedures from across the world. In this case patients in critical condition can stay at home, yet still receive the care from the best specialist surgeons in the world.

Aside from offering patient benefits, RAS offers many economic benefits for both the patient as well as the hospital. Due to less invasive procedures, patients are able to have shorter hospital days and are also able to return to their daily activities and work much faster. (Kirkpatrick and LaGrange, 2017)

So far robotic surgery sounds like a logical improvement, however there are also risks involved. As the current technology involves a robot as assistance, next to human error there is also the added risk of mechanical failure. There are possibilities that mechanical problems are experienced during the procedure, possibly causing the robotic arms not to respond as expected. Furthermore, the energy source from the robot machinery could potentially cause internal burn injuries from the cautery device (Kirkpatrick and LaGrange, 2017). There are possibilities that mechanical problems are experienced during the procedure, possibly causing the robotic arms not to respond as expected.

Overall, many professionals argue that the benefits of robot assisted surgery far outweigh the risks. As RAS is increasingly used in a widespread amount of surgeries around the world, techniques will be refined and developed.

Although robotic surgery offers advances in surgical practice, can you imagine the ethical issues around the topic? Think of equipment safety and reliability, information provision and patient confidentiality, just to mention a few.

In the future, will we ever have to go to hospitals? Currently robots are being used in the assistance of surgeries, however, their usage has increased exponentially in the past decade. The entire value chain of surgical procedures may become entirely robotized. Although this offers many surgical advances, it is vital to consider the risks associated with such robotization of a critical procedure.

 

 

References

Kirkpatrick, T. and LaGrange, C. (2017). Robotic Surgery: Risks vs. Rewards | AHRQ Patient Safety Network. [online] Patient Safety Network. Available at: https://psnet.ahrq.gov/webmm/case/368/robotic-surgery-risks-vs-rewards- [Accessed 25 Sep. 2017].

Mayo Clinic. (2017). Robotic surgery. [online] Available at: http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/robotic-surgery/basics/definition/prc-20013988 [Accessed 18 Sep. 2017].

Yurieff, K. (2017). New robotic drill performs skull surgery 50 times faster. [online] CNNMoney. Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/01/technology/robotic-drill-surgery/index.html [Accessed 25 Sep. 2017].

 

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V is for Verily – Alphabet using data for healthcare

11

October

2016

4.88/5 (8) How can the technological expertise of Google be used to improve people’s lives? What are the future trends in HealthTech?

Imagine a chemist and an engineer and a doctor and a behavioral scientist, all working together to truly understand health and to better prevent, detect, and manage disease.

– This is what Verily is all about.

Verily was formerly a division of Google[x] and is now an independent company of Alphabet officially founded in December 2015. Its mission is to employ technology to uncover new truths about health and life science. What is most interesting about this company is its multidisciplinary team: it is composed of experts turning ideas into products by cross-pollinating medicine, engineering, and data science. As an example, they have already produced a smart contact lens for diabetics that continuously monitors glucose in tears (instead of having to prick their fingers to test their blood glucose levels).

 

What does Verily deal with?

The company targets health issues affecting millions, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mental health. It is organized in four business units: hardware, software, clinical, and science. This is not the first time that Google deals with health issues, and indeed Verily was previously known as Google Life Science.

 

The software Business Unit

Of particular interest for our field of study, the software team is composed of engineering and data gurus who intend to better predict, diagnose, and improve treatments of diseases. Wearable technology is very useful in the prediction phase. The collection of psychological, behavioural, biological, and environmental variables could result in a more detailed patient-segmentation analysis, and allows to gain more knowledge about a disease and why it progresses differently among individuals. This, in turn, gives the possibility to better tailor treatments, and to personalize them based on the specific needs of the individuals.

There is a lot of information residing in our bodies – from our genes to our sleep patterns. The software business unit tries to use this information by developing products, platforms, and computational algorithms to improve people’s lives and to increase patients’ empowerment. In this way, people do not need to spend as much time in hospitals and can get the right medications, while avoiding the risk of side effects (and the associated costs).

 

HealthTech trends to keep an eye on

Verily is just one of the many companies dealing with HealthTech: the future of medicine will have a lot to do with technology, more than it ever did.  Below, a list of three important trends for the near future is proposed:

  • DATA: the importance of monitoring and evaluation of data will keep on rising thanks to the growing adoption of wearables and mobile technologies. The collected information will, in the longer term, allow to have personalized treatments.
  • VIRTUAL / AUGMENTED REALITY: a lot of potential resides in this hardware technology. Surgical training and study can benefit a lot, as the VR / AR can be used for simulations before surgery. Also, they could be used as a psychological relief for patients (e.g.: in Argentina, VR is being used to help cancer patients escape the harsh process of chemotherapy).
  • COMMUNICATION: technology could have a strong impact on the communication means of patient-to-doctor (and viceversa), and patient-to-patient. Mobile devices allow to have instantaneous communication, which enables a doctor to have real-time updates about a patient. Also, Social Media empower patients to create communities of people suffering from the same disease, and they may receive support from the community.

 

How is HealthTech going to evolve in the next few years, in your opinion?

Interested in the topic?

Here are some interesting videos:

SOURCES:

https://www.statnews.com/2015/12/02/google-doctor-jessica-mega/

https://www.statnews.com/2015/12/07/verily-google-life-sciences-name/

https://verily.com/

https://virtualrealityreporter.com/virtual-reality-surgical-medical-application/

 

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