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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..."
This is an experimental new tool. The scientists are predicting it can be used to detect (say) the membrane surrounding blood vessels, yet these tests are useless?
No, the test isn't useless - I was saying there were many possible applications, but I doubted slicing a yolk out of an egg was one of them. I could be wrong - maybe there are millions of people out there crying out for just hard boiled egg whites. Or for the yolks - you could use them as practice golf balls or something. Ahem.
A useless application, not a useless test. Perhaps I should have been clearer...
Trev - used to be interesting. Honest.