What Is ‘Robot Nanny’ To Nurture Embryos?

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China Builds AI Nanny To Look After Baby Embryos In Artificial Womb
Chinese scientists from Suzhou in China’s eastern Jiangsu province have developed an AI system that can monitor and take care of embryos as they grow into fetuses in an artificial womb.

According to a report by Interesting Engineering, Chinese scientists from the Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology claim that their ‘robot nanny’ has a high level of efficiency although trials on human embryos are yet to be conducted.

How does the artificial intelligence-driven system work?

The AI ‘nanny’ reportedly works by adjusting the nutrition, carbon dioxide, and other important factors in the artificial womb for the embryos and monitors them while providing such conditions.
Multiple media reports suggest that the Suzhou Institute researchers have developed this system to bring the birth rate in China back on track, which has dropped to its lowest in the last sixty years, as per Interesting Engineering.
Talking about the artificial womb, which is assisted by the robotic system, the scientists say that their technology is better for growing embryos as they claim it to be safer and more efficient than natural ones.
In their study, which has been published in the Journal of Biomedical Engineering, the scientists revealed that their AI system ranks embryos based on their development potential and claimed that they have already run tests on embryos of animals.
Moreover, it added that the AI technology would “not only help further understand the origin of life and embryonic development of humans but also provide a theoretical basis for solving birth defects and other major reproductive health problems.”
It is worth noting that this would not be the first instance when scientists are experimenting with embryos for a breakthrough.
Earlier, scientists from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in California had conducted an experiment to grow human stem cells within a macaque monkey embryo claiming that they aimed to study cell communication and harvest organs for donation.
The embryo was initially monitored but was destroyed 20 days later as the experiment’s ethics were challenged.

First Artificial Womb for Humans

In October 2019, BBC News reported that scientists in the Netherlands are within 10 years of developing an artificial uterus for humans.
Scientists claim that this one-of-a-kind technology could potentially save the lives of premature babies below 37 weeks, who are the most likely to die among newborns.

In 2017, a team of scientists from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in the US successfully tested an artificial womb meant to carry premature births on a lamb fetus. The technology provides a safety net to give a premature child every chance it can have of survival.

What is the need of this type of artificial Womb?

Premature birth is a major problem, affecting more than 1 in 10 babies globally.
Babies born this early may have more health problems or need to stay in the neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), which support their cardiorespiratory function and development to full term.
Despite advances in medicine, for extremely premature infants, NICUs are not an adequate substitute for the protective environment of the maternal womb.

Through this project, scientists envisioned a solution as an artificial womb, where the intrauterine environment can be protected extracorporeally by transferring the extremely premature baby to a perinatal life support system. This will help the fetal organs further develop until they reach maturity.

Question:
The _________ is a temporary organ that connects a mammalian mother to its foetus.