Slashdot Mirror
Brain Surgery Robot Running Linux
hherb writes "Singapore has developed a robotic brain surgeon. The interesting bit: based on a Linux platform. Well, what else? Who in his right mind would like to have his brain fondled by a MS product?"
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
I only want a human fondling my brain, thank you.
GF.
Lots of petrified grits
If you were having your wetware fondled, you'd probably care more about the track record of the application than the OS.
Linux != crashproof, as my recent www.linuxfromscratch.org efforts demonstrated.
Great to see Linux proliferating, sad to see it used for a completely gratuitous bashing.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
... matters most. It is the software that do the drilling, cutting etc.
From the article:
The speed and precision hinge on the software program written by researchers at NTU's department of mechanical and production engineering.
I am not sure how comfortable with this i am, not becuase i at all think linux is prone to fail but becuase linux is capable of failing. Kernel panics still happen, like, once in a billion years. Linux just never struck me as an OS you need when, like, it is absolutely essential that absolutely nothing go wrong ever. Like when you are running some kind of control system for an airplane, or controlling a robot drilling holes in people's skulls. I don't think linux or even bsd would be a great choice in those cases, though i sure as hell don't think windows should even be considered given their track record in such situations.
Aren't there any OSes about at the moment that are like all redundant and correctness-proven and stuff, like with NASA-like failure margins? Wouldn't it be better to be using those instead?
Is this reasonable of me to say?
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
I find it odd that even though the story has nothing to do with microsoft the company still gets mentioned. Will the linux community ever get over their penis envy of the more successful counterpart? I doubt it.
yeah, Blue Screen of Death would be really appropriately named then...
If the OS with the program driving the robot "crashes", the robot will certainly turn itself off. (It is unimaginable that such a product would be designed otherwise.) So nothing dangerous will happen, the operation will just be delayed by a minute until the computer is re-booted.
Having said that, one might go a different route and produce all the software needed (including the driver itself) using formal methods, if you want 100.00% safety (minus epsilon for human errors in the formal requirement descriptions).
Okay, maybe I'm just a nut.
But when someone goes and builds a robot that performs brain surgery (or even, as in this case, parts of brain surgery), how on earth is "The Interesting Part" that it runs Linux?! I, personally, would suppose that the interesting part is that it Does Brain Surgery.
"Hey, I just designed a program that can perfectly predict storm patterns across north america a year in advance!"
"Yeah, well, if it runs on Microsoft, go tell someone who cares."
-d
=== "Some people see the glass as half-empty. Others see it as half-full. I see the glass as too big." -G. Carlin.
I agree, but when I drive, I am placing my life in my hands, and my skills. Considering the types of cars I drive (see my webpage for more info) I have the skills to avoid getting killed while driving.
;-)
Placing my life (or my eyes) in someone elses hands...that's a different matter entirely. And to do so with the full knowledge they're using a MS product...well I don't have a deathwish yet
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
How about a kernel panic. Linux isn't 100%. I'd trust BSD* more than Linux. And if we are going to play that game, I'd probalby trust Solaris more than all of them. Just my 2 cents.
Can all fish swim?
Pardon me, but wouldn't the "interesting bit" be that it's a frickin' SIX-LEGGED ROBOTIC BRAIN SURGEON?