10 Ways Robots Will Change All Our Lives Forever

A clear industry in which robots can make a real difference is in medicine.

Automation in the medical world is already making headway, with surgical robots performing highly precise and minimally invasive operations, pharmaceutical robots mixing preparations for IVs and dispensing medication, and disinfection robots that can cleanse an entire room of germs in minutes using a UV light.

As well as using robots in supportive roles, we are also increasingly able to use them in the actual treatment of patients.

The ones making headlines at the moment are the futuristic-sounding nanobots: Microscopic swarm robots that can be injected into patients for the highly targeted treatment of diseases such as cancer. Researchers have also been working on a tiny robot of just millimetres in size that is able to perform heart surgery. This would transform what is currently a hugely invasive and traumatic procedure into a much simpler one.

Exoskeletons are also making big noise in the world of rehabilitation (well, more of a "whirr whirr" noise actually). Researchers at Columbia University are currently looking into how we can use robotic exoskeletons to restore movement in patients with injuries, either as an aid to physiotherapy, or even as a permanent means of restoring movement in paralysed patients.

Then we come to the incredible world of prosthetics where the technological advancements have been coming thick and fast with prostheses that are now able to be controlled by the mind alone.

Debilitating injuries to semi-bionic superhuman. Sound pretty impressive to us.