Hospital Robots

bluegreenone writes: "The Washington Post has an article about hospital robots. The most interesting part was hearing the robot's 'co-workers' describe their relationship with him." Only slightly scary.

Comments

Re:Sponge bath anyone??

[larien]

Since the robot is loaded up by a person and the route programmed in by that person, I don't see that being a problem. Of course, the person probably reads stuff off from a computer system which could be hacked. However, it's locked in a safe which (hopefully) the patients can't access. Finally, it isn't delivering "narcotics" (and some other drug types) which kinda rules out morphine and other dangerous stuff.

Hmmmm...

[HiQ]

It slowed down as it entered the first-floor ward, whose corridor was crowded with elderly patients in wheelchairs, and carefully avoided each one.

Hmm, nothing that a little hacking can't fix. Could make a nice alternative to robot wars

sweet sweet irony.

[QualityWithAKei]

'The 400-pound robot is powered by a battery that is recharged by pharmacy workers every 12 hours. "I just mess with him all the time," said Willie James, a disabled veteran who visits the hospital about eight times a month. James said he likes to roll his wheelchair into the robot's path'

makes you wonder why hes disabled in the first place...

Re:sweet sweet irony.

[Anonymous Coward]

if (sonar signature)&&(infrared signature)==("obstacle")
then stop_goaround();
if (sonar signature)&&(infrared signature)==("disabled veteran")&&("disabled veteran")==("Willie James")
then proceed();
endif;

what about the human side

[tanveer1979]

The technology and all is okay, but healing is not just medicines. Having a nurse to talk to and do the psychological healing is very important for a patient.

In a hospital its not just the medicines which cure you, it has to come from inside too. If Robots are used extensively it can create a sort of coldness which wont be really good, especially for patients who are under depression

Programming Personality

[Alien54]

The interesting, almost artistic side to this is the way they program a personality into this.

Done right, the voice will not be annoying, and people will participate into making it a living member of the community.

I, for one, do not want to work in a place where all the robots sound like smurfs, or have their personality. Or the voice of Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, president Bush, or any other celebrity.

well, maybe Majel Roddenberry, the voice of the computer in Start Trek.

Scary?

[lameland]

How exactly is this scary? It's a robot that can deliver medication from a pharmacy to a nurse's station. The only remotely dangerous thing it does is drive down the halls. Its been programmed to avoid everything/one in the hallway, if that is not possible, it stops and announces that it can not make any futher progress without assistance.

Sounds pretty safe to me.

Re:Scary?

[zsmooth]

It sounded to me like Tim was saying the relationship the co-workers have developed with the robot is scary, not the robot itself.

AI finally gets a home

[southpolesammy]

Well, it only took 50 years, but looks like the commercial world has finally found a practical application for AI. It would be interesting to find out if the robot is adaptable to its surroundings, or if it is just a command follower -- like the automatons that rove around assembly plants and such. It sounds like it has a fairly decent forward motion detection module and that its mobility module is integrated into that nicely as well. I wonder though if it is capable of maze transversal, and other classical AI applications.

May be worth keeping an eye on in the future...

Homepage for "Tobor"

[southpolesammy]

Pyxis Corporation

Overcomplication

[CptLogic]

I happen to work in one of London's largest Hospital trusts and our site is abosultely massive. Often new starters require a long time before they can get from place to place without getting lost.
In that aspect, a robot that knew where to go and could get there quickly and reliably, delivering stuff could be useful.
However, that's what Porters are for, and for things like Medical Records, test results and drugs, for confidentiality reasons as well as safety, only trained people are allowed to carry them anyway. No doctor here would ever let a record or result out of his/her sight without handing it over personally to the intended destination.
We're implementing IT systems that will enable these files to be transferred electronically, securely. This will free up skilled time a lot more than using a robot to carry stuff, and is easier to maintain.

Our Medical Equipment guys are busy enough fixing things like heart monitoring equipment. They really don't need to have to start fixing robots that kids or drunks or others have kicked to pieces.

The Tobor system would cause more problems than it solves by throwing a very complex solution at a very simple problem.

Better to pay a trained human to do the running or introduce it as part of a Medical degree.

Chris.

Re:Overcomplication

[Gryffin]

Hmmm.... I dunno why you're so focused on the problem of paper records, but that wasn't even mentioned in the article. The robot was designed to transport *meds* and otherbulky stuff that TCP/IP can't handle.

Beside, one could make the argument that a robot like TOBOR would be just as reliable, even moreso, than an electronic system for transporting test results and reports. It's a lot easier to lose a chunk of bytes in a computer system (especially if it's Windoze-based...;{) than to misplace 400 pounds of robot. With a built-in safe, no less.

Re:Overcomplication

[3-State Bit]

You said (emphasis here and below is mine):

The Tobor system would cause more problems than it solves by throwing a very complex solution at a very simple problem.
Better to pay a trained human to do the running or introduce it as part of a Medical degree.

I just about wet myself reading this, as it is an almost thought-for-thought transcription of this anecdote regarding John von Neumann (I trust you've heard of him):

In the 1950's von Neumann was employed as a consultant to IBM to review proposed and ongoing advanced technology projects. One day a week, von Neumann "held court" at 590 Madison Avenue, New York. On one of these occasions in 1954 he was confronted with the FORTRAN concept; John Backus remembered von Neumann being unimpressed and that he asked "why would you want more than machine language?" Frank Beckman, who was also present, recalled that von Neumann dismissed the whole development as "but an application of the idea of Turing's `short code'." Donald Gillies, one of von Neumann's students at Princeton, and later a faculty member at the University of Illinois, recalled in the mid-1970's that the graduates students were being "used" to hand assemble programs into binary for their early machine (probably the IAS machine). He took time out to build an assembler, but when von Neumann found out about he was very angry, saying (paraphrased), "It is a waste of a valuable scientific computing instrument to use it to do clerical work."

source

Now think ahead 20 years.

You should hear what the robot has to say...

[guttentag]

The most interesting part was hearing the robot's 'co-workers' describe their relationship with him.

You should hear what the robot has to say about his co-workers...

"Ug-lee... ugly primitive bags of mostly water. Must get to wet sand. Must get to Bahamas. Must get... free..."

One from the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation.

[Spudley]

Instead of "Please examine my contents", it should say "Share and enjoy".

Re:What about the healing touch?

[GungaDan]

"Studies have repeatedly shown that the 'laying on of hands' is particularly effective..."

What studies? Name sources! Studies funded by or otherwise affiliated with "Liberty University" do not count.

BTW, osteopathy, some chiropractic, and "therapeutic touch" are legit, but people refrain from calling them "laying on of hands" to avoid that "old world pentacostal charm."

"The door into summer"

[shilly]

Robert Heinlein's record at predictions never ceases to amaze me: not only did he decribe robots working in this way in a hospital, he also depicted a number of the problems and solutions that are talked about here. Check out "The Door Into Summer" to see what I mean.

delivering mail

[tswinzig]

Some Japanese companies now use robots to deliver mail.

Yes, I call these robots "SMTP Servers."

Pretty catchy, huh kids?