A new Indianapolis-based Center for AI and Robotic Excellence in Medicine (CARE) is partnering with top researchers to study whether AI and robotics can transform medical care. The center, which opened in January, aims to establish standards, tools and ethics for AI-driven medicine locally before the technology scales nationally. CARE's research focuses on AI-assisted robots that work alongside surgeons as a team, autonomous smart laboratories, and medical drones that can carry blood and instruments across long distances. However, major challenges remain, including opaque "black box" AI decisions, bias in training data, unclear liability when systems fail, and costly access to large urban hospitals.