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Medtronic- Healthcare and Robotics

When it comes to the healthcare industry, robotics will be one of the cornerstone technologies that will transform the industry over the next few decades, asserts Ryan Stancil, contributing editor to Daily Profit Cycle.

It makes sense, because automation is set to become one of the big economic trends, so healthcare could stand to benefit from it just as much as something like manufacturing or transportation.

When people think about the healthcare industry, thoughts usually go to the work done by doctors, nurses, and other frontline personnel. What many people don’t think about are the more routine, mundane jobs that need to be done.

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While doctors and nurses are taking care of patients, there still needs to be administrative work done. Likewise, rooms need to be disinfected for the safety of staff and future patients. Putting robots on just these particular tasks makes it possible for hospitals to save money without sacrificing the quality of the care that patients receive.

And it doesn’t end there. One of the biggest growth areas for robots in healthcare is in surgery. It’s such a big area that the surgical robots market in just the U.S. is expected to be worth over $8 billion in 2025. Now, it’s important to point out that surgical robots aren’t doing procedures themselves.

Instead, these systems are assisting the surgeon in making precise motions from a nearby console. It’s almost like controlling a video game. At no point does the robot actually do any thinking on its own.

The big advantage is that the robotic tools used by the surgeon have better dexterity and a greater range of motion than any human, making it much easier to perform delicate operations in hard-to-reach places. These procedures involve less pain and risk of infection and shorten hospital stays and recovery times.

Other robots assist medical professionals in other ways. Think about all of the materials that need to be moved around hospitals: Lab samples, food, linens, medications, and waste.

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Robots have already been tasked with moving these materials where they need to go so that hospital staff can focus more on patient care and treatment. This is a task that needs to be carried out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so anything that can make the process more efficient is welcome.

In the field of medical robotics, Medtronic (MDT) is one name to look at. The company was founded in 1949 by two engineers as a repair business that focused on medical electronics.

One of those engineers was a man named Earl Bakken, who would create the first wearable pacemaker in 1958 and the company would soon go on to produce the first implantable pacemaker.

In the years and decades after, Medtronic would go on to offer products internationally and continue to produce medical device innovations that would serve as standards for medical professionals everywhere.

In February 2020, Medtronic acquired Digital Surgery, a London-based provider of artificial intelligence-driven surgical data and analytics. This allowed Medtronic to strengthen its offerings related to surgical robots.

The move paid off for the company, which has enjoyed a steady climb in revenue since its acquisition of Digital Surgery. Indeed, the company has enjoyed a steady increase in stock value since it was first founded, but it has especially shined in the last year.

The company is a storied name in a crucial industry, and the history behind the company, along with the path it’s charting into the future, make it a strong bet when it comes to robot-assisted surgery.

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