Majestic highs and uncertainty

Robotics may well be the most important and cost-effective technology to enter the health care system since IT. In terms of clinical services and direct patient care, it may well prove itself to be more important.

But, as analyst Dan Kara recently pointed out about the robotics revolution in general: “The robotics revolution, I have found, is not just around the corner.  The revolution is always just around the corner.” Kara, who has worked in the robotics space for over a decade, is optimistic, yet, as he puts it, he has learned to be more cautious over time. He’s not alone, especially when it comes to health care robotics, which for many is even further around the corner than the rest of the industry.

The scope of the robotic potential

Most in the field concede that robotics is a natural fit for health care. It just may be the only broad-based technology solution capable of delivering medical care services directly to patients across every health care need. Think about it: from diagnostics to surgical procedures to doctoring to clinical services to prosthetics to therapeutic and rehabilitative care to nursing home care to home health care to care for the Medicare elderly, right on down to the robot pharmacist that flawlessly fills prescriptions. Robotics should and could be a big winner for health care technology.

Is this the year that the promise of health care robotics begins to arrive in force? The editors of Robotics Business Review think that there are lots to recommend 2013 for breakout moments, and Perspectives 2013 will examine and illuminate some best-bet scenarios of where, when and why those breakouts could take place.