The Pros And Cons Of Robots

The future looks bright for robots, particularly surgical robots. Robots and machines have become a big part of our lives today. They exist in the computers we use, our phones, you can’t walk out the front door and not see the work of machines. There’s an old tall tale about a man, John Henry, who lost his life trying to out work a machine. It started out as a race to see who could tunnel the farthest into the side of a mountain in a set amount of time. John Henry ended up beating the machine, however he ended up working himself to death. Whereas the machine was ready to start working again right away (Heroes and Champions). This is an example of how robots can work more efficient than humans, how ever it’s costing our society valuable jobs.

A surgeon sits at a control station and maneuvers the robot(Eichel, McDougall), so it’s not like the hospital is just releasing a machine to start slicing and dicing on an individual. The da Vinci robot is the most popular robot used in the world today. Procedures that were once open surgery can now be performed with no more than a single cut (Eichel, McDougall). This machine has the dexterity to peel the skin off of a grape (OneidaHealthcare). Common procedures performed by the da Vinci robot include coronary artery bypass, removing cancer tissue from sensitive body parts, blood vessels, nerves, and other organs. It’s also used for Cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal), hip replacements, kidney removals/transplants, and prostatectomy (prostate removal) (Eichel,

There is great support for robotic surgery by a majority of society. People are eager to receive medical treatment from something new, the want to be able to claim “My surgery was performed by a robot.” I think it’s important to separate the hype from reality when considering robotic surgery. Yes, there’s a shorter recovery span. Yes, the scarring is less visible. Yes, there’s less time spent in a hospital bed. However is it worth the extra cost? More importantly, is it worth the extra cost for equal if not sub-par results? It’s exciting to think about robots performing surgery but the bottom line is, in most cases, they’re not performing any better than a traditional surgeon. There’s always room for improvement, and the future is bright for the da Vinci robot and other surgical robots. Nonetheless, the future will have to wait it’s turn; for now, Laparoscopic surgery wins the