The relationship between science, technology and society during the Covid-19 pandemic
The case of Medical Robotics in Canada
Student names (alphabetical order): Zachary Belanger, Tashfia Naharin Proma, James Reed, Megan Walbaum, Kecheng Yao
Supervisor: Gita Ghiasi
Course: ENGR-392-2202-EE
Abstract
Medical robots have the potential to save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as afterwards with-it having applications in every medical field from surgical robots to exoskeletons. This study will analyze the impact of medical robotics and its overall development in Canada over the period 2013 to 2020. The objective of this study is to determine what steps can be taken to better align the needs of society to the research and innovation of medical robots. Data was collected from the INSPEC and Compedex databases, Statistics Canada and use of VOSviewer. This paper looks at the main actors and institutions developing medical robots in Canada, where Canada stands on a global scale compared to other countries, how it might affect the gender gap in employment and wage, and how the pandemic has affected the industries linked to medical robotics. We discovered that the top 5 research institutions studying medical robots were listed as academic institutions with the Imperial College of London (UK) ranking first. Despite not being among the countries with the top 5 research institutions, Canada’s Hospital for Sick Children is ranked second among hospital institutions located globally. Our finding also shows that the effects of developing medical robots on the gender gap in employment and wage vary depending on the industry involved; those being manufacturing, medicine, and R&D in the physical, engineering and life sciences. In the R&D and manufacturing industries we will see an increase in the gender gap in employment and wage but in the healthcare and social assistance sector we will see an increase in the average wage for women as well as employment. In all 3 sectors we have found that men make more across the board even in sectors that women are over-represented in. Data from statistics Canada revealed that the majority of businesses were negatively impacted by the pandemic response with some like health and social assistance being impacted the hardest and manufacturing showing the least amount of disruption.