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Intelligent Scalpels Through Touch Technology
DullTrev writes: "The BBC News site is running a story about touch technology. Basically, haptics is the science of incorporating a sense of touch into technology. Scientists at the University of Tokyo have developed a sensor which can feel. So you could have a surgeon operating with a scalpel incorporating this technology, the scalpel could push back against the surgeon when he tries to slice and dice an artery. I'm sure there could be loads of applications for this technology - most uselessly the test these scientists have been doing - stopping cutting a hardboiled egg when you get to the yolk..."
According to the article, it tells the boundary between the objects via the varying conductivities. Interesting. Now, unless I'm mistaken - it's been a long time since I've had any electronics education - you can't measure conductance without applying voltage, yes? If so, this seems like it may not be the most healthful thing possible. Granted, we're probably not talking about much voltage, but electricity and people are just not a good combination. We get enough fried enough because of sitting in front of monitors all day - this isn't gonna help.
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http://cooltech.org
If it ain't cool, it ain't coolt
IIRC, surgeons practice on eggs because they have the same sort of 'feel' as human internals do.
...Or am I thinking of oranges? They have the same properties as human skin, ISTR.
Anyway - would you rather they test this out on real living tissue (e.g. your heart) or on something which is already dead and gives a similar consistency/texture/feel?
I know which I'd rather they try first.
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Igirisu
One application I could think of would be space travel. If you have a couple guys on a space station a few hundred miles above the earth and one needs an emergency medical procedure this could really come in handy. I don't know if this would work out for someone on a deep space mission though as the latency might be too great.
Another application could be a cruise ship, battle ship, or submarine. Could have an expert perform an emergency procedure remotely without having to disrupt the ship operations, or having to airlift the patient.
If this could be made portable, it could also prove useful on the battlefield if you have a wounded soldier in need of a life-saving specialist.
Such technology already is in use to harvest tomatoes. A robot arm can slightly squeeze them and determine the ripeness of a tomato based on the firmness of the tomato. If not ripe, then the tomato is left alone to get some more sun. It's systems like this which can be used to automate farms.
I intend to live forever, so far so good.
I attended a presentation by a French team three years ago, in which they had actually used feedback scalpels in the operating room.
The doctor usually stops cutting well before any feedback is felt, but sometimes it goes near the feedback and overrides it, because his visual inspection is better than the PET scan used to determine feedback levels. The feedback is simply a way to tell a doctor "stop, are you sure about what you are doing?".
They also had samples of robots sawing bones, opening crania and doing, get this, prostate inspections. By the end of the presentation all the males in the room had placed our hands instinctively covering that sensitive area.
LL