The world of artificial intelligence and robotics is already a fact. The first in vitro fertilization birth with sperm injection robots has already taken place. It was a success and as a result twin girls were born. The company Overture Life is responsible for the manufacture of the robot, which is a fundamental step towards the automation of assisted reproduction. It may also be a way to lower costs and allow more people to access in vitro fertilization or IVF.
In vitro fertilization with sperm injection robots.
Up to the present, half a million children a year are born by these assisted fertilization systems in the world. The robot construction project aims to automate the processes so that people who cannot afford treatments and medications can become parents.
According to the researchers, the sperm injection robot is the first step. This will be followed by the egg freezing robot and the embryo maintenance robot.
In this way, assisted fertilization will grow by five to ten times compared to today. In the United States alone, less than 2% of babies are born by these systems because of their high cost. However, in Denmark, where these procedures are free of charge, about 10% of children are born by these methods.
They record in vitro fertilization procedure with robots.
The sperm injection robot was manufactured in Barcelona, Spain, and then shipped to the New Hope Fertility Center in New York, USA. There, an engineer, who had no knowledge of medicine, placed a needle into the robot using a joystick from a popular video game console.
The process of in vitro fertilization with sperm injection robots was recorded with a camera. The robot advanced with the needle, penetrated the egg and left a sperm in it. The same procedure was repeated on a dozen eggs. The result of the fertilization was a success and in March 2023 two girls were born, the first girls to be fertilized using robots.
The robot is such a significant success that it has already raised $37 million from private investors for its development. The construction of the robot is simple and, according to experts, is the first step towards the automation of assisted fertilization.
According to embryologists, the hand of professionals will not disappear, since they are the ones who collect the eggs that will later be fertilized in vitro. According to them, at least 30 million children will be born a year through assisted fertilization when the process is fully automated.
