Robots in healthcare

Purpose - This paper aims to review of the use of robots in two healthcare applications: surgery and prosthetics. Design/methodology/approach - Following a brief introduction, this paper first considers robotic surgery and discusses a selection of commercial products, applications and recent technological advances. It then considers recent developments in robotic prosthetics. Findings - It is shown that surgical robots are being employed in an ever-growing range of clinical procedures. Systems employing tactile feedback are under development. Improved robotic prosthetics are the topic of a major research effort and recent developments include hands and grippers, walking aids and novel control techniques, including thought-activated systems which exploit advances in brain-computer interface technology. Originality/value - This paper provides details of recent developments and applications of robotic surgery and prosthetics.