How Implementation of Actuators into Medicine Can Impact Its Progress

Nowadays, actuators are applied in many medical devices. We might even not see them, but all those big and small devices work hard to provide the patients and doctors with the top comfort level. They give that needed functionality that is crucial to provide a proper care level to patients that have mobility issues.

Actuators, such as you can see on actuatorzone website, allow lifting, lowering, and in general adjusting hospital beds, dental chairs, etc. but more importantly, actuators are used to make those medical robots without which many things would be impossible.

Micro-actuators are used in medical robots to enable them to perform some types of surgeries that humans alone would never be able to handle. However, let us check how actuators in medicine are used and how they help to arrange better medical care for patients.

Actuators for Medical Beds

A medical bed is a device developed specifically to provide patient care. Actuators in such beds allow to lift, lower them, as well as to adjust the inclination level. Thus, patients can adjust the item to climb in the bed independently, to get up, to sleep in a position that causes the least discomfort.

Actuators for Scanners

Actuator systems are widely applied for all scanner types:

• CT;
• PT;
• MRI, and others.

These tools are used to examine patients and for diagnostics purposes. The application of linear actuators allows to move the scanners in different directions, thus, facilitating their use.

Dental Chairs

Dental chairs are, probably, the most ergonomic chairs that have ever been designed. They are equipped with everything to make a patient feel comfortable:

• Adjustable foot-rest;
• Adjustable head-rest;
• Arm-rests.

A dental chair can be fitted to make the patient feel as comfortable as it is possible in the given conditions. 

Patient Lifts

Actuators are irreplaceable for patient lifts. These devices are used to transport patients within a hospital. A system of hoists and swings facilitates the patient lifting and moving and simplifies the work of nurses.

Actuators for Medical Robots

Medical robots have made huge advancements in medicine, specifically in surgery. A medical robot has made so-called minimally invasive intrusions a reality. Many surgeries now can be performed by making tiny incisions. It means fewer risks, less damage, and a much faster recovery period. 

Medical robots are also applied for early diagnostics purposes, targeted drug delivery, exoskeletons, and similar. 

Potential Developments and How They Can Improve Medical Field

Here, we will not speak about the development of increasingly smaller actuators with better functionality. It is evident. We better check what additional systems can be deployed to make actuators work more precisely, more accurately, and more independently. 

AI (artificial intelligence) has been already used for a while. However, it is being developed rapidly, and thus, we can expect new achievements. The application of AI in medicine can lead to many improvements. For example, self-learning machines can be used for diagnosis purposes. They can analyze huge volumes of data and make decisions based on the facts that are available. Thus, a machine can check and consider much more information than a human. And thus, diagnosing in such a case can be more accurate.

Sensors can be used to make all those adjustable beds and chairs regulate the inclination, height, and even temperature and humidity levels based on the data collected from the patient`s body.

Actuators and AI are already applied to create robotic companions. In the future, we can expect further development of this trend. Robots will become smarter and will be able to interact with people in a more life-like way.

Now, actuators are applied in the medical field so widely that we do not even think about them sometimes. However, one of the most crucial applications is, probably, the one for medical robots, all kinds of them. Another crucial application is for creating robotic limbs and exoskeletons. 

While other applications are mostly used to increase the comfort level of a patient and to facilitate the work of nurses, the mentioned two applications are crucial to take care of patients` physical and emotional health. 

Final Thoughts

All the parts, including actuators, are becoming smaller. It allows to use them in more applications. For example, tiny bots are made that are able to travel in the intestine of a patient collecting their information and sending it directly to a PC. Other bots are tested that can deliver drugs to a specific part of the patient`s body, thus, eliminating or reducing possible side effects and the impact of the drug on other body systems. 

Who knows, maybe in the future, the parts used for medical applications will become so small that will allow creating robots that will be able to work on the level of cells and atoms. And it means, there will be solutions found for such diseases as cancer, AIDS, and similar.

(Disclaimer: Hayley Mann is a technology enthusiast specializing in automation methods of ergonomics devices. Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)