Applications of information and robot technologies to improve medical therapies

The advanced technologies, especially, information technology (IT) and robot technology (RT) have been applied to various activities in medicine and health care fields. There are two viewpoints for the advancement of medical treatments and nursing activities by introducing advanced technologies. The one is the advancement of medical systems to make possible to increase the range of medical treatment and to recover lost functions. On the other hand, the increase of efficiency of medical treatments and nursing activities is also important to decrease the routine works of medical staffs and nursing staffs and to use effectively the facilities and human resources of hospitals and nursing homes. The activities of medicine and nursing are generally categorized into five stages of education and practice of medical staffs and nursing staffs, medical inspection, medical operation, rehabilitation, and life support after rehabilitation. In these stages, various devices and systems are developed to support the activities by applying IT and RT. This paper introduces some examples of the applications for each stage. Then, two projects that the authors have conducted are introduced. The one is virtual reality (VR) based mirror visual feedback (MVF) system for complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). The other is a robotic Mendelsohn maneuver to maintain normal swallowing function of aged person.