Datta Burton, Saheli;
(2022)
Not Anytime Soon: The Clinical Translation of Nanorobots and Its Biocompatibility-Interdisciplinarity Critique.
In: Hanemaayer, Ariane, (ed.)
Artificial Intelligence and Its Discontents. Social and Cultural Studies of Robots and AI.
(pp. 147-178).
Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, Switzerland.
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Abstract
Medical nanorobots combine the hype, hope and discontents of the wider AI, biorobotics and nanotechnology domains into a single artefact with the single overarching promise of shifting biomedicine and healthcare away from systemic (whole body) therapeutics. Instead, nanorobots are expected to deliver targeted therapeutics by autonomously travelling to hard-to-access target sites within the human body to zap cancerous cells, deliver drugs or genes, make incisions or imaging data, and more. Drawing on an exhaustive review of literature informed by discussions with basic scientists, policymakers, regulators and sociologists, this chapter looks beyond the hype and hope to explore the complexity of technical and non-technical realities of routinising nanorobots into clinical practice though the lens of existing regulatory frameworks for clinical translation. Findings show that inadequate considerations of the biological compatibility (biocompatibility) of nanorobots with human in-vivo environments, in upstream development processes, challenge clinical translatability. This, I argue, is rooted in the overwhelmingly design-driven upstream processes focused on attaining ever-higher levels of bio-intelligence, but mostly at the expense of biological considerations. To a large extent, lack of meaningful integration with multidisciplinary downstream knowledge (e.g., clinical tacit knowledge, regulatory expertise) undoubtedly amplify the design focus. However, it is its underpinnings in weak interdisciplinary engagement throughout the development process, that, I contend, is the overarching critique of the nanorobotics domain’s commitment to translation or its likelihood anytime soon.
| Type: | Book chapter |
|---|---|
| Title: | Not Anytime Soon: The Clinical Translation of Nanorobots and Its Biocompatibility-Interdisciplinarity Critique |
| ISBN-13: | 978-3-030-88614-1 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/978-3-030-88615-8_8 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88615-8_8 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Science and Technology Studies UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10148952 |
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