Are we ready to embrace robots in hospitals and care homes?
Last night I was invited to the French Embassy in London by the trade body, Business France, to watch England narrowly win against the Democratic Republic of Congo. Predicting that it would be a nerve-wracking display, they had kindly organised some showcases of French SMEs to listen to and be inspired by.
Many others and I were rather taken by Miroki, a three and a half foot tall, bright orange, fox-like robot developed by Paris-based start-up, Enchanted Tools. Miroki was developed to support caregivers with repetitive unskilled physical and logistical tasks, freeing up more time for patient care. Think simple tasks like fetching medication, moving items between wards, and carrying trays, but also checking in on patients to remind them to drink or move. In the Institut du Cancer de Montpellier, the robot has been used as a companion for children undergoing radiotherapy, where radiation exposure means parents and clinicians can’t be present.
The team ended with the question: is the world ready to see more robots in hospitals and care settings or is it too soon?
The Healthcare Robotics market last year was valued at about $20 billion, with some estimates that it will triple in the next decade. Much of this is surgical robots driving precision, but the companion and logistical robot segment is fast-growing with wider applications (in all service-based industries) and some sources put its market value by 2035 at $12 billion.
This is the first time I had come face to face with a robot and previously thought of them as science-fiction. It was unnerving to stare into the robot’s camera and watch the character’s face change its expression and make eye contact with me. The robots have a full character backstory to shift them from perception of an odd machine to something less threatening and more charming – like C3P0 or R2D2.
Examples of adoption of these robots as far as I can see are limited, mostly pilot studies, but there are some examples in the US and Asia of wider adoption. A 5,000 respondent survey from Chibu University in Japan last year found that people were genuinely open to a conditional openness to care robots. People were concerned about data, about safety protocols and also if they could have some say in its design and use. Naturally, mistrust was around who was receiving the data gathered – if it was a hospital, fine. If it was the robotics company, not so much.
Our CEO survey this year saw productivity and staff recruitment and retention amongst the highest strategic priorities across the board – two challenges this robot and others like it were built to support. I don’t know how much Miroki costs, but I suspect it’s a technology that more healthcare CEOs will be keen to explore as they look at their investment in digital transformation, innovation, efficiency and productivity.
I suspect that robots in the next decade will become commonplace; we’re getting used to seeing them deliver food, clean up in restaurants and even run marathons. I don’t think that this is too soon, I think the timing is right especially for this class if it is able to be delivered at the right price point to shift from a cool toy to rest to something that can make a real tangible ROI. Enchanted Tools claims that Miroki can save up to 2 hours of a caregiver’s time per day – that quickly adds up.
I always wanted a companion droid like R2D2 growing up – perhaps we’re close to that becoming more of a reality.
