Medical Appliance Technicians
In short: today's best AI models could do about 3% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 97% of the time, stays with people.
Construct, maintain, or repair medical supportive devices such as braces, orthotics and prosthetic devices, joints, arch supports, and other surgical and medical appliances.
11,280 people do this job in the US. $48,030 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on1 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people39 h
Medical Appliance Technicians, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 1 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 39 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Read prescriptions or specifications to determine the type of product or device to be fabricated and the materials and tools required (under an hour); Order parts or supplies for orthotic or prosthetic devices (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 3%
- 2%
- 95%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 3%. Today's estimate: 3%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 16 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0046% to 0.0024% (released February and March 2025); 0.0021% to none (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0046% | 620 of 708 | 1 of 16 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0024% | 642 of 703 | 1 of 16 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0021% | 623 of 655 | 1 of 16 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 16 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 16 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 16 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 16 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 94% of this job's working time as physical work. For 74% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 74% in a purpose-built cell. 0.74 of 3, the 245th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 6%
- No robot shown 19%
- In a purpose-built cell 74%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 16 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Make orthotic or prosthetic devices, using materials such as thermoplastic and thermosetting materials, metal alloys and leather, and hand or power tools.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Invent Medical Talee / Piro AFO on HP Multi Jet Fusion (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 30% | 5 h1.7 h to 1.7 work days | Stays with people | |
| Repair, modify, or maintain medical supportive devices, such as artificial limbs, braces, or surgical supports, according to specifications.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 18% | 1.7 h38 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Drill and tap holes for rivets, and glue, weld, bolt, or rivet parts together to form prosthetic or orthotic devices.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, AX-10 robotic screwdriving assembly cell with X-PAQ driver (ASG, a Division of Jergens Inc.) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 1.1 h25 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Bend, form, and shape fabric or material to conform to prescribed contours of structural components.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, RayForm automated clear aligner production line (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 1.1 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Construct or receive casts or impressions of patients' torsos or limbs for use as cutting and fabrication patterns.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Pickle Robot unloading system + Ambi Robotics AmbiStack (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Polish artificial limbs, braces, or supports, using grinding and buffing wheels.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Acme RFP Series Robotic Finishing & Polishing System (FANUC robots, ATI tool changers) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 33 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Cover or pad metal or plastic structures or devices, using coverings such as rubber, leather, felt, plastic, or fiberglass.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, RoboTape (Innovative Automation) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 1.1 h25 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Lay out and mark dimensions of parts, using templates and precision measuring instruments.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Zünd L3/G3 cutter with Marker Module (Zünd Cut Center) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 33 min13 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Test medical supportive devices for proper alignment, movement, or biomechanical stability, using meters and alignment fixtures.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, MetraSCAN 3D-R / CUBE-R automated 3D scanning CMM cell (Creaform) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Fit appliances onto patients, and make any necessary adjustments.Done more than yearly by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Read prescriptions or specifications to determine the type of product or device to be fabricated and the materials and tools required.Done daily by most who do it. | 2% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Instruct patients in use of prosthetic or orthotic devices.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 2% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Dental Laboratory Technicians0% now, 0% by 2028
- Medical Equipment Repairers28% now, 33% by 2028
- Ophthalmic Laboratory Technicians7% now, 7% by 2028
- Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters4% now, 4% by 2028
- Molders, Shapers, and Casters, Except Metal and Plastic0% now, 0% by 2028
- Surgical Technologists2% now, 2% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Medical Appliance Technicians is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 3% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 3% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Medical Appliance Technicians come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Read prescriptions or specifications to determine the type of product or device to be fabricated and the materials and tools required (100% of the task's time now); and Order parts or supplies for orthotic or prosthetic devices (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Medical Appliance Technicians stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Make orthotic or prosthetic devices, using materials such as thermoplastic and thermosetting materials, metal alloys and leather, and hand or power tools; Repair, modify, or maintain medical supportive devices, such as artificial limbs, braces, or surgical supports, according to specifications; and Drill and tap holes for rivets, and glue, weld, bolt, or rivet parts together to form prosthetic or orthotic devices. Together such tasks are about 97% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Medical Appliance Technicians?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Medical Appliance Technicians?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 94% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 74% of the working time. Its index is 0.74 of 3. One example: Invent Medical Talee / Piro AFO on HP Multi Jet Fusion for "make orthotic or prosthetic devices, using materials such as thermoplastic and thermosetting materials, metal alloys and leather, and hand or power tools". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 16 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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