How robots are shaping tomorrow's world

Healthcare robot Bestic at the ongoing 2017 World Robot Conference in Beijing, Aug 23, 2017. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Healthcare robots

While parcels can be delivered to your hand by robots, a robot known as Bestic can even feed you with a spoon.

Developed by Sweden-based Camanio Care, Bestic acts as a human arm to feed the user, mostly the elderly or those with difficulties using their arms or hands. It can increase meal-time independence and allow users to enjoy meals in their own space.

Bestic costs around 4,000 euros overseas, but its price in China has not yet been decided, says Lu Tonghua, product manager with Zhongrui Funing Robotics Technology (Beijing), whose parent company is an agent and shareholder of Camanio Care.

Lu says the robot will be adjusted to Chinese eating habits in the future. "For example, Chinese elderly like to eat soup or noodles. A spoon alone is not enough."

He says that more than ten nursing homes have shown a willingness to purchase the robot.

If robots that can feed and wash people are not so surprising, what if you doctor was even a robot? Well, if surgical robot system Da Vinci is anything to go by, robot doctors might not be so far off.

In the robot conference exhibition hall, a video shows a surgeon sitting in front of a console and operating robotic arms to remove parts of a patient's liver.

The Da Vinci surgical system, made by the American company Intuitive Surgical, is designed to facilitate complex surgery using a minimally invasive approach, and is controlled by a surgeon from a console.

China is equipped with more than 60 costly Da Vinci surgical systems. In 2016, they performed over 10,000 operations.