When I went to see Disney’s latest movie, I wasn’t expecting the hero to be a robot doctor. “Big Hero 6” is an amazing and wonderful movie, just like “Wreck-It Ralph,” another recent movie from Walt Disney Animation Studios. But unlike that video game movie, this one gives us a look at what healthcare may look like in the future – and just as Vinod Khosla has predicted, we will get care of all kinds from robots, not humans.
The “personal healthcare companion” Baymax was created by Tadashi Hamada, the brother of the main character Hiro Hamada. The robot looks like a marshmallow man and is designed to be non-threatening and huggable, according to Tadashi.
Baymax turns on when he hears someone say, “Ow!” and he turns off when the person he is treating says, “I am satisfied with the care I have received.”
We stayed through all the movie credits and there were several universities listed in the credits, including Carnegie Mellon and MIT. The directors got the idea to make Baymax white and soft from healthcare robots being developed in the robotics lab at Carnegie Mellon. The robot is an amazing combination of many of the innovative ideas that healthcare entrepreneurs and researchers are working on over the country. Here are some of my favorite moments from the movie that illustrate those ideas.
A multi-purpose tool
Many entrepreneurs are working on tests and devices that can diagnose many illnesses. HealthSpot just got a huge vote of confidence from Xerox for its telemedicine kiosk that can provide several healthcare services. Baymax is multipurpose too.
The team’s car crashes into the water at one point and they have to walk shivering back home. Baymax notes that everyone’s body temperatures are low and so he turns on his internal heaters. His white body takes on a rosy glow and everyone cuddles up with him.
“This is like spooning with a warm marshmallow,” one person says.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
At one point Baymax scares Hiro, “You almost gave me a heart attack!” the kid yells. “Are you having a heart attack? My hands are defibrillators!” the robot replies. His palms start glowing and he looms over Hiro.
An embedded social network
Hiro’s older brother dies not even 30 minutes into the movie, and the younger Hamada is in mourning for much of the story. Baymax diagnoses grief and spits out the standard treatment protocol: support from friends and family. The robot’s big tummy is a video screen and Hiro’s social circle pops up on the display.
“I will contact all your friends,” he says and sends a message to four people Hiro knows in his brother’s robotics lab.
Later, Baymax shows Hiro videos of his brother while he was building the robot. These short movies do bring Tadashi back, if only momentarily, and it does make Hiro feel better.
I have heard many pitches for “social networks for seniors” and “companion animal robots” and they all seem clunky and awkward. In the context of a “friend” like Baymax, it all made sense. A healthcare companion like this could have your email address list and all your Facebook contacts in his operating system, right next to your EHR. A “healthcare companion” as smart as Baymax would be able to tell if you needed a visit from a friend or a trip to the doctor, and could make either one happen.
A high-tech sensor
The robot can not only scan basic biometrics but it can also assess the status of Hiro’s neurotransmitters. That’s how he figures out Hiro is depressed over the death of his brother. After a battle with the main bad guy Yokai, Hiro is trying to figure out how the team will be able to find him in the fictitious city of San Fransokyo.
“I can find him through his scan,” Baymax suggests. The robot has scanned the villian during the battle and has his biometric fingerprint. The boy and the robot fly to the top of the Golden Gate bridge – reimagined to have a Japanese design but the same color – and the robot scans the entire city to find the bad guy. Very cool, but also creepy and beyond the capabilities of today’s sensors.
Artificial intelligence that can learn
Hiro has to train Baymax to fight (he was originally programmed to be a caregiver after all) and to fly. The robot is having a hard time figuring out this new skill, but the he realizes that Hiro is enjoying the experience of soaring over the city.
“Your neurotransmitter levels are increasing. The treatment is working,” he says, and immediately becomes an expert flyer.
The robot also has many of the clunky elements of our current healthcare system. The name is meaningless yet confusing (Betamax?).
The robot still uses the terrible 1 – 10 pain scale we have now, complete with the smiling and sad faces. Also, Baymax implements his training in a strained way – as you would expect from a robot. After he diagnoses Hiro with grief, he says, “Physical comfort helps too,” and pulls Hiro into an awkward hug and pats his head, “There, there.”
The movie has earned $36 million so far, taking in the most money last weekend when it opened but falling to second after Dumb and Dumber Too this weekend. If you’re looking for a holiday event for your healthcare team, It is definitely worth your time and the ticket price to go see this movie. It is funny and sweet and really makes you think about robots in healthcare.
