ROBOTICS FOR BIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL APPLICATIONS

This chapter describes research activities currently conducted in the world that are related to robotics for biological and medical applications. Robotics for medical applications started fifteen years ago while for biological applications it is rather new (about five years old). In this chapter, we first discuss why we need robots and automation in biology and medicine. Then we present robotic tools, devices and systems, key technologies, and fundamental research challenges that are relevant to the two applications. Research activities conducted and visited by the assessment team in the U.S., Japan, Korea and Europe are introduced.

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