AI
Mint Primer: Your life may be in the hands of an AI surgeon soon
Summary
- Robotic surgeries, especially in the post-covid era, are being routinely done in urology, oncology, nephrology, gynaecology and laproscopy. But these robots aren’t the kind you see in movies.
Having learnt from videos, a da Vinci robot has been replicating surgical procedures like using a needle and suturing. Robots may be a step closer to performing complex surgeries independently—but will humans trust autonomous AI surgeons?
Is robotic surgery new?
Robotic surgeries, especially in the post-covid era, are being routinely done in urology, oncology, nephrology, gynaecology and laproscopy. But these robots aren’t the kind you see in movies. Da Vinci robots, for instance, come equipped with robotic arms to hold surgical tools, cameras for vision and consoles controlled by human surgeons. They are used in hospitals around the world including local ones like Apollo, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Fortis Hospitals, Max and Medanta. In fact, India got its first urologic robotic installation at AIIMS in 2006 after US FDA approval.
Then why is this a major development?
Programming a da Vinci robot for a surgical task typically requires manual coding for each step, which can take long. Researchers from Johns Hopkins and Stanford universities used imitation learning to train the robot to perform three key tasks—manipulating a needle, lifting tissue, and suturing— “in just a couple of days" by watching videos of surgeons. The method does not need explicit programming, accelerating surgical autonomy. Nearly 7,000 da Vinci robots are being used worldwide, and more than 50,000 surgeons have been trained on the system—a huge database for robots to train on.
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How big is the market for robotic surgery?
The global market for surgical robots may grow from $11.1 billion this year to $23.7 billion by 2029, says MarketsandMarkets. In India, it will touch $952.5 million by 2030, according to Grand View Research. The surge is prompted by a need to reduce invasive procedures, cut complications, and reduce costs by shortening hospital stays. Insurers cover robotic surgeries.
How does the technology work?
Last year, Cornell University used videos to train “personal robots" to cook, wash dishes, and do the laundry. But performing surgery from videos is very challenging since da Vinci robots are not very precise. Hence, the researchers combined imitation learning with a ChatGPT architecture that uses kinematics—a language that translates robotic movements into math—instead of words and text. The team also trained the model to perform relative rather than absolute movements, significantly improving accuracy of the tasks.
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What about regulation and safety?
Since human lives are involved, the Code of Medical Ethics Regulations, 2002, mandates doctors to reveal the use of such technology to patients. Surgical robots face limitations in flexibility, cost, reliability, and can be hacked. AIIMS came under cyberattacks in 2022 and 2023, following which its servers were down for more than a fortnight. Robots often lack the dexterity of human surgeons who can adapt to unexpected situations. In India, surgical robots are regulated and certified as “medical devices".
