Code, control, and cure: how automation is transformed modern medicine

Over the past decades, automation technology has brought about profound changes in medicine. From the introduction of automated laboratory analyses and computer-assisted imaging to robot-assisted surgical procedures and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-supported diagnostics, medical care has undergone fundamental changes. The aim of this article is to illustrate how automation technology has developed in medicine since the 1950s and how selected applications have influenced diagnostics, therapy, efficiency, and patient safety. Selected examples of technological advances and future challenges will be presented in four areas of medicine