Robotic and Bionic Medical Devices

AUGUST 2024

What are robotic medical devices?

Robotic medical devices are “smart” machines that can perform actions that a health care provider might. These
devices incorporate principles from several academic disciplines, including engineering, computer science,
mathematics, and medicine.
Some robots can operate by themselves without any outside control. Others operate with some monitoring or control
by a person, while others are fully controlled by a person.
Robotic systems have many applications in medicine including surgery, endoscopic procedures (to look inside a
hollow cavity or organ), and physical rehabilitation to help people recover from an injury or disorder.

What are the benefits of robotic medical devices and how are they being used?
They can perform minimally invasive surgery. Patients benefit from robotic tools that make tiny incisions. This can
lower the risk of infection and cause less tissue damage and blood loss. Also, patients may need less pain medication
and have a quicker recovery time.
Surgeons benefit from operating robotic arms and surgical
instruments from a console, which eases the physical strain
of long procedures. Another advantage is that robotic arms
can be equipped with attachments. These include
microgrippers—tiny magnetic claws—that make surgical
procedures more precise and robotic cameras that provide
surgeons with high-definition 3D views of the body while
performing procedures.
Robots can be used to help with different types of surgery.
For example, in reproductive surgery, they can help with
removing and repairing reproductive organs such as removing the uterus (hysterectomy), ovaries, or the prostate
gland, and treating gynecological problems such as pelvic organ prolapse and fibroids.
They can perform minimally invasive endoscopic procedures that use a flexible tube-like tool called an
endoscope. Robots can help physicians treat early-stage tumors in the gastrointestinal tract by increasing precision
when removing cancerous tissue and minimizing damage to healthy tissue. Robotic endoscopy systems equipped
with sutures can also close small openings in the gut after tissue removal.
They can be worn as exoskeletons that provide support, strength, and mobility to the user. These exosuits are used
to help people with limb loss in rehabilitation. The devices can be worn over a patient’s legs, arms, or entire body and
are powered with battery packs or other sources of energy, enabling users to initiate and control standing up, sitting
down, standing, and walking.
Being able to stand and walk in an upright position can help
people with spinal cord injuries prevent health complications,
such as rigid muscles, impaired bowel function, and other
conditions that reduce quality of life.
Increasingly, robotic exoskeletons are made from soft material
and elastic parts that are lightweight, flexible, compliant, and
more comfortable than rigid materials, which can be bulky
and heavy to wear. The soft material reduces the risk of injury
to the wearer and allows for safer human interaction.

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What are NIBIB-funded researchers developing in the area of robotic medical

devices to improve medical care?
A self-driving needle steers through living lung tissue A significant share of cardiac procedures performed in
the U.S. are open-heart surgeries, which entail
The lungs are one of the most difficult organs for
extensive recovery periods and aren’t safe for some
physicians to navigate. They have a dense network of
high-risk patients.
blood vessels, bronchi, and other critical anatomical
structures that makes reaching distant lung nodules A new robotic catheter could someday equip surgeons
with a conventional bronchoscope challenging. To to operate in the cardiac environment with greater
overcome these limitations, researchers have built a ease. The device has shape-shifting capabilities that
compact semi-autonomous robotic system that can allow it to be maneuvered through complex anatomy
steer a flexible needle around these anatomical while maintaining enough stability to accomplish
obstacles within the lungs of live animals. The robot surgical objectives within the heart. With further
could someday be used to biopsy the smallest development, the robotic catheter could make many
clinically relevant nodules more safely and with better common heart surgeries far safer and less taxing on
outcomes for patients. the body.
A shape-shifting robotic catheter could make heart Researchers aim to streamline brain surgery with a
surgery safer new soft robotic system
Navigating the labyrinthine vasculature of the brain
with standard surgical instruments can be incredibly
challenging, even for the steadiest of hands. But with
some robotic assistance, brain surgeons could
potentially operate with far greater ease.
Researchers have laid the groundwork for a soft
robotic tool and control system that could grant
surgeons an unprecedented degree of maneuverability
within the brain. With further development, the robot
could one day speed up and improve the efficacy of
The new robotic catheter features both a deployable stabilization
minimally invasive surgeries for life-threatening brain
mechanism and a flexible manipulator tip. Credit: Rogatinsky et al.
aneurysms and other serious conditions.

What are bionic medical devices?

They are high-tech devices that can restore or improve physical abilities that were partially or fully lost due to injury
or disease. These devices are designed to mimic or replace natural functions such as walking or hearing.

What are the benefits of bionic medical devices and how are they used?
They can increase mobility and functioning in people who
have lost their limbs or the use of them. Artificial limbs are
becoming increasingly lifelike due to advanced technology,
such as sensors that measure angles and forces while a
person walks and a computer chip (microprocessor) that
uses that information to enable the user to control the
position and motion of their artificial limb(s).
They can partially restore functioning to people with hearing
or vision loss. For example, surgically implanted electronic

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AUGUST 2024

hearing devices (cochlear implants) can benefit hearing or vision loss. For example, surgically implanted electronic
hearing devices (cochlear implants) can benefit people with little to no hearing. The devices electrically stimulate the
nerves inside the ear, sending signals to the brain that are interpreted as speech and sound.
Another implanted electronic device can partially restore vision in patients whose retina—a thin, light-sensitive tissue
at the back of the eye—has deteriorated. The device, known as a retinal prosthetic, works by processing incoming
light and transmitting the information through electrical impulses to the remaining inner retinal layers.

What are NIBIB-funded researchers developing in the area of bionic medical

devices to improve medical care?
Neurally controlled prosthetic ankle allows for intuitive balance correction
Roughly two million people living in the United States have had an amputation, and amputations of the lower limbs
are the most common. Many individuals will choose to use an artificial (prosthetic) device to assist in walking.
NIBIB-funded researchers have developed an ankle prosthetic that relies on the user's residual muscle to generate
electrical signals to help amputees maintain ongoing control of their posture and balance.
Engineers harness muscle power for healing
Bioengineers have developed an implantable
device that can generate electrical impulses when
the material is flexed by muscles moving and
contracting. This wafer-thin technology has the
potential to enable the broad use of therapies that
combine electrical and mechanical properties.
The device uses “piezoelectric” materials that can
self-assemble and create an electrical charge
during mechanical stress. These materials have
been used in medicine for ultrasound imaging and
for electrostimulation, which can accelerate the
healing of wounds and bone fractures, maintain The piezoelectric wafer at left shows the crystalline structure of the middle layer
muscle tone in stroke victims, and reduce of lysine. On the right the wafer easily flexes for biocompatibility and to induce
chronic pain. the lysine crystal to create an electrical output. Scale is centimeters. Credit:
Xudong Wang, University of Wisconsin-Madison

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