Archive for the 'Medical' Category

Well this is something I’ve never seen before. The Dento-Munch is a robot designed by the University of Bristol and is intended to test artificial teeth materials for how they will wear over time.

The machine is capable of 6-degrees of motion, allowing for a more accurate depiction of human chewing. It takes in data by means of motion capture from humans and then translates that information into the robot to see how real chewing will wear on the dentures. Kind of strange, but practical for dentistry, I’d imagine. Just don’t get your finger stuck in there!

[Wired]

Think about it. A little teeny tiny robot (1mm X 5mm) swimming and crawling through your body, searching for a tumor, all on its own. Well the ViRob, created by the students at Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, was made to run through your body. It swims around in your blood cells, your digestive tract, and respiratory system. It has little tentacles that it uses to attach itself and burrow itself into the walls of your cells. The idea, you could say, is disgusting, but you have to admit that it can lead to a bright future, health-wise.

Sci-Fi shows seem to have the coolest high-tech stuff these days. For example, this little robot could represent the robot shrunken by the shrink ray. Anyways, this robot could possibly cure diseases and do delicate procedures such as cutting off a tumor. Don’t be expecting it anytime soon, but know that it will be in our future.

[Singularityhub]

If this guys highly creepy looks are any indication, he’ll be a lot like Casper the friendly ghost, in that he’ll scare the crap out of kids and later befriend them. KASPAR (Kinesics and Synchronization in Personal Assistant Robotics) is a child sized robot from Adaptive Systems Research Group from the Universty of Hertfordshire. This group also is a part of RobotCub.

Creepy KASPAR may be, but he has a noble purpose. KASPAR will be used to study children with autism. Which explains his special skin called Roboskin.

Children with autism have problems with touch, often with either touching or being touched, said Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn. The idea is to put skin on the robot as touch is a very important part of social development and communication and the tactile sensors will allow the robot to detect different types of touch and it can then encourage or discourage different approaches.

Video below.
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Research at Micromuscle is focused on creating a series of electroactive polymers that do some amazing things when placed under small voltages, like changing shape and even volume.

They show a few examples of these things folding into complex structures by themselves. There would be a ton of uses for such things, but the main application seems to be things like catheters that can steer themselves through the bloodstream, drug delivery mechanisms and even microscopic robots that can pick up tiny things and move them some distances.

[Engadget]

A collaboration from ROBOSOFT and SRI International has delivered a home-service oriented robot assistant that follows the needs of elders around the house. Based on ROBOSOFT’s mobile robuLAB10 robot, the robotic system integrates SRI’s navigation software, enabling the robot to navigate, follow and assist the patients from room to room.

Developed for domestic environments, the robuLAB10 robot, equipped with a voice interface allowing access to internet services, is a proof-of-concept demonstration. The next three-years phase will focus on developing a turnkey solution with relevant technology suppliers and partners, with the intention of large scale deployment of such eldercare robots.

ROBOSOFT worked with SRI to integrate SRI’s Karto navigation software on the robuBOX™, ROBOSOFT’s robotic programming system allows to develop interfaces for making daily tasks transparent to users. The robuBOX, with Karto navigation software, is a complete and flexible set of service robotics programming solutions.

[medgadget]

Belgian scientists are developing a cuddly green robot to help ease the anxieties of children in the hospital. Look at that snout. Would you be calmed by this thing?

It gets better. Probo has a touchscreen on its stomach that will explain operations to children. The robot also makes facial expressions intended to show how medical procedures will make the child feel. Oh yeah. That’s a great idea. The doctor will cut you here and it will make you feel like my goofy smile. What the hell are they smoking In Belgium anyway?

“The main goal of this project is to have emotional communication with children,” said Jelle Saldien, one of the researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University of Brussels) design team at Probo’s unveiling on Tuesday.

Probo is the brainchild of Ivan Hermans, president of the Anty Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to design the robot. He had the idea after seeing the film “I, Robot.”

No more films for you Ivan.

[Reuters]

Swiss scientists from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have developed some tiny corkscrew shaped robots that can swim through liquids. They are so tiny that they could be used to repair a humans arteries. It’s about one half the width of a human hair.

The robot is made up of one part nickel, allowing it to move up to a speed of 20 micrometres per second in a low magnetic field. By manipulating the magnetic field, the robot can be steered to go where they want it.

[Robot Living]

Hopefully you’ll never need to be anywhere near this machine. But should you find yourself in the same room with this thing, have a look at your internal organs in a whole new way. The new da Vinci Si robotic endoscopic system displays your insides in 3D HD thanks to a dual-camera, dual-display stereoscopic system.

Hopefully it will help the doctor see what’s going on better inside you and not remind him of his bitchin new home theater as he cuts you in a bad place and the beeping starts.

[medgadget]

Show of hands. Who is creeped out by this thing? You just know it’s gonna slowly come back to life Micheal Myers style and that it can’t die no matter what you do. It’s Laerdal’s latest patient simulator, the SimMan 3G.

He can be programmed with various practice scenarios for doctors to hone their skills on. He’s also wireless, self-contained and able to withstand four hours of surgery.

[Engadget]

Here’s a bot used for dental training. As if dentistry wasn’t creepy enough. Dr. Naotake Shibui and some engineers from Kokoro have developed a dental training robot known as Simroid aka Pain Girl.

Simroid has sensors in her mouth and chest and can respond verbally in order to teach dentists what not to do. Or maybe it will scare them into doing the job right. It’s not nearly as cool as the robot brushing Cindy Crawford’s teeth, but hey, one’s for brushing and one flops around on a chair freaking out.

[Robot Living]