Larger patient populations, staff shortages and aging populations are driving the digital transformation of the healthcare industry and robotics are becoming a vital commodity for addressing these challenges, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Healthcare providers will compensate for staff and skills shortages with robots

GlobalData’s latest report, ‘Robotics in Healthcare 2022 – Thematic Intelligence’, reveals that healthcare providers will deploy robotic technologies to cope with staff and skills shortages.

Jemima Walker, Thematic Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Healthcare providers are struggling with staff shortages due to a lack of funds for the public sector. Deploying service robots, such as care robots, to take patient vitals and move patients will prove doubly beneficial in compensating for these shortages and freeing up valuable time for nurses to improve patient quality of care. Meanwhile, telesurgery, a combination of robotics and mixed reality technology, will be game-changing in emergencies.”

Surgical robots will be cheaper and provide new surgical possibilities

Small surgical robotics vendors face tough competition from industry leaders such as Intuitive Surgical. However, strong capital raising activity in the market suggests that investors are confident in the new robots entering the market. According to GlobalData’s Deals Database, over $6 billion was raised by private robotics vendors, between January 2020 and September 2022, with the majority specializing in surgical robotics.

Walker adds: “Surgical robots of the future will be cheaper and offer exciting new possibilities. Micro-robots will provide novel surgical procedures for previously difficult-to-treat diseases. For example, Bionaut Labs’ micro-robots could provide an effective, minimally-invasive treatment for Dandy-Walker Syndrome*. Meanwhile, cheaper surgical robots will enable wider market adoption in countries favoring public healthcare systems.”

Robotics will be the most disruptive technology for pharma manufacturing

In pharma, industrial co-bots will lead to substantial enhancements beyond productivity increases, resulting in better compliance, consistency, and operational excellence.

Walker continues: “The use of robotics in pharma manufacturing is not new, although early examples, such as AstraZeneca’s installation of robots in a Swedish plant in 2007, pale in comparison to current investments, including Takeda’s $126 million robotics-enabled cell therapy manufacturing facility in California.

“The future of robotics in drug manufacturing lies in the convergence of 5G, cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things. Robots enhanced with AI could be programmed to continually adjust their performance, achieving optimal productivity and efficiency.”

*Dandy-Walker Syndrome is a congenital brain malformation in the cerebellum and fluid-filled spaces surrounding it.