- 5 months ago
Chinese scientists are developing the world's first pregnant robot, a humanoid designed to carry a foetus in an artificial womb, with a prototype expected by 2026.
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00:00A robot having a baby. Sounds like science fiction, right?
00:04But in China, it's on the verge of becoming a science fact.
00:09By 2026, researchers may unveil the world's first pregnant robo,
00:14a humanoid machine designed to carry a fetus from implantation till birth.
00:20This is said to be one of the most radical shift in reproduction since IVF.
00:25And this is also said to be the answer to surrogacy, which is now illegal in several countries, including ours.
00:32But is this the future of fertility or a line that humanity should not cross?
00:38My colleague Sneha Murdani explains.
00:43Imagine a couple dealing with infertility choose to seek help and are told surrogacy is an option.
00:51The mother would be a robot.
00:53You heard that right.
00:56This is not a plot from a sci-fi movie or something I'm just cooking up.
01:01It actually could be a reality in days and weeks to come.
01:05Chinese scientists are developing the world's first pregnancy robot,
01:10a humanoid that will carry a baby in an artificial womb and mimic a full-time pregnancy.
01:16For those struggling to conceive, hiring a humanoid to carry their baby will cost about 12 lakh rupees or a lakh one.
01:25The machine, equipped with a system that feeds the fetus nutrients through a host,
01:31could one day mimic a full-term pregnancy before giving birth.
01:36An AI robot, surrogate, wouldn't conceive in the true human sense.
01:42Instead, it would house an artificial womb implanted inside its body where a fertilized embryo is placed.
01:49The robot's advanced systems would then provide nutrients, oxygen, and monitor the developing fetus,
01:56mimicking the functions of a natural pregnancy.
01:58AI has been a friend, companion to many.
02:02Now, it could be taking on the role of a mother.
02:06The prototype will make its debut next year.
02:09But while the science is fascinating,
02:11it has opened Pandora's box of legal and ethical debates.
02:17Yes, it offers hope in infertility.
02:18But what about the moral boundaries of creating life through machines?
02:26All right.
02:28A relief for those wanting surrogacy or a scare for those wondering what lies ahead?
02:34Let's break that open with an expert joining us.
02:37Dr. Naina Patel, a surrogacy and infertility expert,
02:41also the medical director of Vakantra Hospital and Research Institute, joins us live now.
02:45Dr. Patel, all right, we'll just go across to her.
02:50Meanwhile, we also spoke with Dr. Manisha Singh,
02:54who's the additional director of gynecology at Fortis Hospital in Bengaluru.
03:00Let's listen in to how gynecs are really perceiving this big medical breakthrough.
03:07Pregnancy in a human being and in a robot is very different.
03:12When a mother goes into labor, she can have high blood pressure,
03:18she can have hemorrhage in the antepartum period,
03:22she can bleed after the delivery of the baby.
03:25There can be different complications that happen during the labor,
03:29which is what every obstetrician and gynecologist needs to learn in their formative years.
03:34When it comes to the robot, there will be proper precise mechanisms
03:39to get the baby out of the pot when the time is right.
03:44So therefore, will it aid training of the new generation doctors?
03:47I'm not so sure.
03:50But yes, this is a very interesting novel concept
03:53and there is still miles to go before this is out in the public
03:59for clinical practice and clinical use.
04:03But I look forward to the developments in this space eagerly
04:09and I'm sure that in time to come,
04:12there will be a use and validity for the pregnancy over.
04:15All right, so let's see what this one offers.
04:21Dr. Patel is with us.
04:22Dr. Patel, these bio-sacs where an embryo can grow
04:26has existed for a while, right?
04:29The robots carrying it in their womb perhaps is the new part here.
04:33But I'm very curious to understand your perspective
04:36on what this means for fertility and the future of that.
04:39Thank you for asking me.
04:43As of now, I would really say it's an interesting novel technology.
04:48But is it crossing an ethical and moral line?
04:52That is also what we should understand.
04:54Will the whole idea of having a baby change?
04:59So now more and more patients are going for artificial insemination or IVF.
05:03So no natural conception, then no natural pregnancy and delivering the baby.
05:08So that is a very logical, social, ethical issue which is surrounding it.
05:14Yes, it could be a boon for couples who are females who could not carry a child
05:19or who has large issues with the pregnancies or the transgenders.
05:23Then there can be single male families where the value of the female will go to zero
05:28and there will be gay couples who will opt for this.
05:31But most importantly, the Garbasanskar, what we believe and our culture believe,
05:37how will that go on to the baby?
05:39The feel, the voice of the mother, what the mother eats, how it impacts, what the mother thinks.
05:45Will this robot be able to think like a human being?
05:48That is another question that we need to answer.
05:51Dr. Patel, it's not a versus question, right?
05:56Every time a medical breakthrough happens, we as humans, because of AI,
06:00have become very competitive with it.
06:03I'm thinking of it from a perspective of perhaps a mother who's finding it difficult to conceive,
06:08who has tried IVF.
06:10It's painful on the pocket, painful emotionally, painful physically.
06:15Surrogacy, not an option anymore legally in India.
06:18For them, is this a breakthrough?
06:21And on your point of Garbasanskar, this robot actually can hear.
06:27You can talk to the baby.
06:29The parents, the parents-to-be can actually communicate,
06:34send their voice to the womb through the robot.
06:37So all these things have been made possible.
06:39But you're right.
06:40The need of it perhaps came from infertility, which is on the rise in China.
06:44Yes, so I really agree with you that, yes, it is a mood for many.
06:50But what about its overuse and misuse?
06:53Like for convenience, for the career.
06:56And how can a womanhood be?
06:58You are literally taking away the womanhood from a female.
07:01Like a male can say, I don't need you to carry my child anymore.
07:05I have a robot to carry it.
07:07Do you think you want a society where this type of mentality exists?
07:11No.
07:11So yes, it's a new, but how will that robot deliver?
07:15What is the long-term impact on that baby?
07:18Will that baby be a total mechanical baby with no human feelings, no touch?
07:24How do we come to know that?
07:26So till then, it has to be very, very guardedly taken.
07:30And we cannot compare it with the animal world also,
07:32because you know human are at a different level than the animals.
07:36So long-term implications, all the mothers,
07:38you may find it very interesting, very glamorous, very fantastic new way of having a baby.
07:44But the new baby that you want, the next generation, what type of baby?
07:49So that is one thing.
07:50And secondly, the countries where it is legal,
07:53how can a machinery take over the legal aspect?
07:56Like here in India, it is legal now for some certain number of couples,
08:00but it's not legal in China.
08:02You can't find a shortcut.
08:03But like, if I want to kill somebody, I don't do it myself.
08:07But if I have a robot fed in who can go and kill that person,
08:11is it legal to do that?
08:12Then everybody will have such type of robots available
08:15who can just by technique, go ahead and kill somebody with AI.
08:19So is this the way you want to take a loop around the legal aspect in a country?
08:24I would say no.
08:25No, I don't want to say it's a new way.
08:28But at the moment, it's just a possibility as of now.
08:32Let's be real about it.
08:33Yes, it's a possibility.
08:35The baby, the first fetus.
08:36It's very interesting how a male can also feed the baby.
08:39When the female is at the job, female can go and feed the baby.
08:42But the complications, like the gynecologist said, Manisha Singh,
08:46is also very important.
08:47The complications that can happen to the baby is revealed to the mother.
08:51Like mother gets hypertension, mother gets some symptoms
08:54where the blood flow reduces to the baby,
08:57where the water supply to the amniotic fluid goes down.
09:01How will a robot be able to detect all this?
09:02Of course, nothing can mimic a human mob.
09:05Yes.
09:05Nothing can mimic the natural way of having a baby.
09:09Nobody is saying that.
09:10But like I said, this is not a versus.
09:12The reason we brought out this report is not to say this is the new way.
09:15The reason we brought out this report is to make people aware
09:18of how far and beyond science is going for China to say
09:22they will actually make it possible by 2026.
09:25Now, that's something.
09:26That means somewhere some fetus has already been conceived
09:30and is ready to be put inside a robo as we speak
09:33for them to actually deliver it in 2026.
09:36But ma'am, let's come down to the cost now.
09:39And like I said, for couples who suffer,
09:44who struggle with infertility,
09:46you know this better than I do.
09:49It's a real one.
09:50It's not just the emotional toil.
09:53It's not just the physical toil.
09:54It's not just how expensive it is.
09:56It's an overall approach.
09:59Surrogacy today as well costs anywhere,
10:02even when it was legally done in India,
10:04costs anywhere between 30 to 40 lakhs.
10:07This one will cost just about 12 lakhs.
10:12If I'm not mistaken, the cost is around 12 lakhs.
10:15Yes, but then the overall cost of maintaining it
10:18for nine months and delivery.
10:20Cost apart, I feel really it's a boon for a lady
10:23who doesn't have a uterus, born without uterus,
10:26not taking help of a surrogate,
10:28who is independently taking care of her baby
10:30as the way she wants, not dependent on a surrogate.
10:33I think it's a wonderful idea.
10:34It's a boon because any female will not be deprived now
10:38of taking care of her own child,
10:41even outside the uterus before the baby is born.
10:44So that's a wonderful concept, I feel.
10:46But that cost will all be in addition.
10:49This is just the price.
10:50After that, maintaining it for the nine months,
10:53feeding it, oxygenation, etc.
10:55will be all added cost and then the delivery.
10:57So the final amount, what it will cost to delivery,
11:01which is say 30 lakhs right now in India
11:03or $100,000, $200,000 in USA,
11:07we don't know what it would come to be
11:10at the end of the day when the final delivery happens
11:13from this particular technology.
11:16But yes, as you said, it will give a lot of independence
11:19to the females who have problems with the uterus,
11:23who cannot carry a baby or born without uterus.
11:25They will feel a lot more confident and independent.
11:29Yeah, like I said, there is a possibility now.
11:30Excellent idea.
11:32Yeah, there is a possibility.
11:33Dr. Patel, you know, this story got me thinking
11:35that if a robo can deliver a baby in 12 lakhs,
11:39why is the cost of this entire infertility sector
11:42in India so expensive?
11:44Any female who above 30 who has frozen their eggs
11:48or that embryo or undergoing IVF
11:51will tell you how painful and how expensive it is,
11:54especially because there is no insurance cover.
11:58Yes, but now insurance companies are coming up.
12:01Can you take us through what is required here then?
12:03Just the cost of the robo.
12:05Before that, creating the embryo will need the IVF part.
12:09And that IVF part is also equally costly
12:11or slightly higher in China.
12:13So if in India you consider a cost of IVF
12:16is 250,000, 2.5 lakhs, it's a little higher in China.
12:19So before they put an embryo inside,
12:22what happens is they have created this womb
12:25that will be put into a humanoid robo, right?
12:29Like a biosat.
12:31It will be the embryo.
12:32So for that we need to do IVF.
12:34We need to stimulate the female,
12:36take her eggs out in the lab,
12:38fertilize with the husband's sperm.
12:40And once that embryo forms,
12:41so that cost is excluded in this.
12:43Whereas in our surrogacy, that is always included.
12:46So that will happen.
12:47Then it goes inside the uterus.
12:49And then the process starts if it survives.
12:52If it does not survive in the robo or is it rejected,
12:55that studies have not come out.
12:57That can also get rejected in a robo.
13:00And again, the same procedure will happen.
13:02So it is not an alternative to IVF treatment and the cost.
13:07It is an alternative to surrogacy
13:09where IVF procedure takes place,
13:11freezing of embryos take place.
13:13But the surrogate is not a carrier.
13:16It is a human robo, which is a carrier
13:18and gets the delivery part.
13:19So the rewards remain the same is what you're saying.
13:21I agree with that.
13:22But Dr. Patel, my question was slightly different.
13:25I'm trying to understand
13:26why is the whole process of fertility
13:29so expensive in India?
13:32And what can be done to actually bring it
13:34under a medical cover
13:35to ensure that people have an easier ride
13:38in these very stressed out lives
13:41that all of us live in urban jungles?
13:43How can you ensure that this becomes
13:46not a thing that only the very affluent can afford?
13:52Yes, yes.
13:53So now it is going down the cost.
13:55The first thing is India is one of the cheapest
13:57in the world as far as IVF
13:59and infertile treatment is concerned.
14:01Even the countries like Kenya and Tanzania,
14:04the IVF is costlier than what it is in India.
14:07So I would say India has one of the cheapest IVF treatment.
14:12But the unfortunate part is that
14:14not all IVF cases are successful.
14:17There is a certain success rate,
14:19say 30%, 40%, 60% depending on the patient profile.
14:23And unfortunately, the Indian ethnicity,
14:26the eggs of the Indian women get aged and infertile
14:30earlier than the Western counterparts
14:33or the African counterparts.
14:34So we in India biologically aged six years earlier
14:39than our Western counterpart.
14:40Now when we are starting our career,
14:42we are looking at it,
14:43we feel 35 is the normal age to conceive.
14:46But unfortunately, the Indian females
14:48start losing out on the quality and quantity
14:51of their eggs by the age of 32.
14:53So that is making even the results
14:55get more difficult in India.
14:57But the cost part is mainly due to the disposables,
15:01media, the procedure, the technology,
15:03the investment in the labs.
15:06And then there are repeated failures
15:08that adds to the cost.
15:09But I would definitely vouch that
15:11India is one of the cheapest countries
15:14as far as IVF treatment is concerned.
15:17Well, anybody who has taken IVF will tell you otherwise.
15:20But yes, that's a good perspective.
15:22Compared to the world,
15:23we do have it cheaper.
15:24Can we make it more affordable?
15:25Can we add it under the insurance cover?
15:28All those questions still remain.
15:31Unfortunately, insurance is not available.
15:32We should get insurance
15:34and we should fight for that
15:35why infertility is not there in the insurance.
15:38All right.
15:39Dr. Patel, thank you so much for joining us
15:41with all those insights over there.
15:42Thank you so much for having me.
15:44Thank you so much for having me.
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