Thanks to advances in AI, machines are playing an increasingly important role in healthcare centres, improving patient care. So much so that operations performed entirely by robots are no longer a utopian dream.
This is undoubtedly the heartwarming story of this issue of Swissquote Magazine. It is told by Dr Julien Welmant, a radiation oncologist specialising in the treatment of tumours in children and young adults at the Montpellier Cancer Institute (ICM).
“Entering the radiotherapy room is a real shock for children because they have to go in alone. Without parents or carers to accompany them, due to the X-rays used to treat their cancer. I remember, for example, a little girl who cried for an hour and a half before each session for two months. It was terrible. But I had to take her into the room, which was torture for me,” recalls the doctor. “Then, during a trip to Japan, I came across an impressive robot in a shop. It was a lightbulb moment; I thought to myself that it must be possible to develop one to accompany children into the radiotherapy room.”
Back in France, the doctor approached several companies specialising in robotics. One of them took up the challenge: the Parisian startup Enchanted Tools, which had been working for many months on the development of a robot. “Thanks to numerous donations, we raised more than €150,000 to fund development,” continues Julien Welmant. And so Mirokaï was born – a small robot with big expressive eyes, rabbit ears and bright colours, who looks like he’s straight out of the Disney studios. “For the past four months, all the children at the ICM have been accompanied by Mirokaï,” continues Dr Welmant. “And we can really see the difference: the robot absorbs all the mental strain and stress of the child, but also of the parents and nursing staff.”
In practical terms, the little robot is brought in from the very first consultations to help build a bond with the child. Equipped with ChatGPT, Mirokaï is able to converse with the little ones, move around with them, follow their faces, hold their hands and even pick up objects. “Four- to seven-year-olds tend to sit and listen to the robot’s stories. With 5- to 12-year-olds, there is real interaction. The first patient who was accompanied by Mirokaï couldn’t bear to go to the radiotherapy room,” recalls Dr Welmant, “but once the robot started accompanying her, she would run to get there.”
However, there is still room for improvement: “Mirokaï will become more autonomous and will soon be able to perform more tasks, such as small logistics.We are also making progress on the possibility of interactions with a group of people,” explains Blaise de Préville, sales manager at Enchanted Tools. In hospitals, the robot still needs to be remotely operated in certain situations to avoid malfunctioning in front of children. The final version is expected to be released in 2027. By then, the company anticipates numerous use cases: “Our robot could be used in retirement homes to stimulate the elderly,” explains Blaise de Préville, “but also in hotels and restaurants, as well as airports.” For Julien Welmant, its importance lies elsewhere: “that all children being treated for cancer can benefit from this kind of support.”
Like Mirokaï, more and more robots are appearing in hospitals. “Due in particular to the ageing population, the medical sector will represent a significant market opportunity for AI robots. The global deployment of humanoid nursing robots could, for example, reach more than one million units by the mid-2030s, with the long-term potential for more than one humanoid per human nurse.” says Pieter Busscher, portfolio manager at Robeco. The current leader in the sector is undoubtedly Intuitive Surgical, which is marketing the fifth generation of its Da Vinci surgical robot. However, the pioneering American company now faces competition from Chinese companies such as Sagebot, Edge Medical and Medbot, which have recently obtained the CE mark for the marketing of their products in Europe. Thanks to artificial intelligence, these machines enable surgeons to operate with greater precision and remotely on patients who may be located in medically underserved areas. Some robots now have five arms so that two surgeons can operate on the same patient together. Other American companies, such as Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson, as well as the British company CMR Surgical, are also trying to break into the market.
According to Grand View Research, the global market for surgical robots is expected to grow from $4.7 billion in 2025 to $9.6 billion in 2033, representing an annual growth rate of 9.3%. For patients, the benefits of robotic surgery are enormous: reduced blood loss, smaller incisions, shorter hospital stays, lower risk of infection, fewer complications during and after surgery, less pain and faster recovery times.
According to a meta-analysis published in June 2025 in the scientific journal Journal of Robotic Surgery, AI-assisted robotic surgery has reduced operating time by 25%, intraoperative complications by 30% and healthcare costs by 10% compared to traditional methods. All while increasing surgical precision by 40%. And in the future, it is therefore quite possible that robots will operate on patients independently.
In another field, the American company Accuray markets two radiotherapy robots – Radixact and CyberKnife (see also the July 2024 issue of Swissquote Magazine). “Thanks to AI, our robots are able to predict where the tumour will be at the time of irradiation,” explains Ludovic Peyre, marketing director for the EMEA region at Accuray. “This is particularly important for treating mobile organs such as the lungs and liver. The robot tracks the patient’s breathing cycle and then predicts the tumour’s future movements, thereby avoiding irradiating healthy areas or missing parts of the tumour. This increased precision reduces treatment time, which is a benefit for patients, hospitals and society.” And that’s not all: “AI robots are a big wave sweeping through radiotherapy and medicine in general,” says Ludovic Peyre.
However, this development is not without its dangers: “Artificial intelligence can increase performance, but it can also increase ignorance,” said Dr Arnaud Beddok, a radiotherapist at the Godinot Institute, during the Artificial Intelligence in Radiation Oncology symposium, held on 15 and 16 January at the Innovation Hub of the Genolier Clinic. A study published in November 2024 in the journal Radiology showed that doctors were too inclined to trust AI. Even when it is wrong.
