Augmented Intelligence in Joint Replacement Surgery: How can artificial intelligence (AI) bridge the gap between the man and the machine?

Robot-assisted arthroplasty is likely to grow exponentially in the years to come. While most surgeons recognize their superiority in refining alignment and improving component positioning accuracy, the universal adaptability of robots remains slow due to certain technological and behavioural gaps. Endoprosthesis robots currently suffer from increased reaction time, lack of natural adaptation to the surgeon’s abilities, and unavailability and inapplicability in different surgical contexts. As humans and machines have to move forward into the next phase of their relationship, robots enabled with artificial intelligence (AI) may become more advanced and an alternative to overcome existing challenges like cost, training, and improve performance based on feedback provided by surgeons. Augmented intelligence is perhaps a more apt word than artificial, as it reflects more human-machine fusion and several areas are already proactively adopting the terminology. Arthroplasty robots can benefit from AI by using computer vision models, applying sensors, and integrating feedback and loop execution. All of this would help achieve a technical superiority to the surgeon alone. This brief perspective on how humans and machines are likely to benefit from the integration of AI outlines the technical side of this enablement.