Robotic anesthesia – how far from reality?

Chaiah, Y.; Majeed, A.

The modern practice of anesthesia is challenged with highly complex operating room environment and ever increasing number of tasks requiring the anesthesiologist’s undivided instantaneous attention. Automation of repetitive tasks and risky procedures, coupled with clinical decision support, helps to improve safety and reduce stress. Varying degrees of progress have been made in developing robots to undertake various individual components of the anesthesiologist’s multifaceted clinical practice;some semi-autonomous drug delivery systems have reached the stage of obtaining regulatory approvals, whereas fully or semi-automatic mechanical robots undertaking a few procedures are still under research. The current COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to innovate machines to perform mechanical tasks avoiding proximity to the patient’s airway to protect the anesthesia staff from catching infection. This editorial presents a snapshot of the current status of these devices, and attempts to envisage a roadmap for further development. © 2021 Faculty of Anaesthesia, Pain and Intensive Care, AFMS. All rights reserved.