The Average Joe Robotics Competition Team had the opportunity to learn about the role of robotics in healthcare at Corewell Health Lakeland Hospitals, St. Joseph Hospital.
Robotics program manager at Corewell Todd Cooper tells us that 30 students from the team had the chance to interact with surgeons and observe how robots are utilized in medical procedures.
“We gave each of the students a chance to sit at the surgeon console of the robot so they could use and manipulate the robotic arms just like they were doing surgery that the surgeon would do,” Cooper says. “What we did was, we had a dummy or a fake patient, and kids used the robotic instruments to fish for one of the Tootsie Rolls.”
The students explored the functionality of the robotic da Vinci XI surgical instruments and discovered the various types of surgeries performed with robotic assistance. They also gained insight into how these technological advancements can lead to improved patient outcomes.
“Robots aren’t going away anytime soon,” Cooper says. “I think what we’re going to start seeing out of robots is artificial intelligence. And that’s where you can kind of follow like a gold standard so that we can teach new surgeons how to become more adept and faster, more efficient with the robot than ever before.”
Corewell highlighted that the event aimed to inspire students to consider a future career in the healthcare field.
