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iRobot's Robot Doc Is Ready To Heal You
SkinnyGuy tips news that patients may soon be getting diagnosed with the help of a 5'4", 140lb assistant going by the name of RP-VITA. The 'Remote Presence Virtual + Independent Telemedicine Assistant' was unveiled this week by iRobot (the company behind the Roomba vacuum bot) and InTouch Health, and it allows doctors a way to remotely gather data. "It may be controlled via joystick, but RP-Vita does have some awareness of its environment. It employs a dazzling array of sensors that include PrimeSense Sensors (the same ones you find in the Kinect for Xbox 360), two cameras that together approximate normal human vision, sonar and a laser range finder. It also creates a map of the hospital and knows the location, for example, of its roll-into charging base." RP-VITA is currently waiting on FDA approval for use inside a hospital, which its creators expect by the end of the year.
...Or more likely, "pass credit card / insurance card through slot".
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it! --Longbottle
Sorry, but to me this is just depressing. We already have to lots tons of money to wait forever to see a LIVE doctor who can barely be bothered to listen or treat before flying out of the room to the next patient. So this is just want we need- make the experience even that much less functional, colder, and more remote.
At this rate, I would do better to just sit at home, Google up all my symptoms and treat myself. Or at least just take my own vitals and video conference with a doctor. Then at maybe I can skip the hour wait in the freezing waiting room with people coughing on me, kids screaming, and a TV blaring on some stupid reality show (or worse, some "public health message loop").
Sorry for the rant, just have not had a lot of good experiences with doctors or doctor offices over the last few years.
Probably gets you some doctor in a call center somewhere.
Of course, diagnosing it 5-10 years ago wasn't so easy because the technology wasn't up to par. Of course, there are things this robot won't still be able to diagnose because they are outside its known ruleset. Was your point that taking a load out of already overworked doctors is a bad idea?
You've got: leprosy.
Seems pretty spot on to me.
My damn Roomba still can't manage to finish a floor without being foiled by a chair.
It's on America's tortured brow, That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Please state the nature of the medical emergency.
She's lost the will to live . . .
I guess they should get ready to be sued by Apple for using a lowercase "i" suffix in their product name.
Speaking of which, I wonder when we'll see the first iLawyer, iJudge, and iPatentClerk.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
...of your medical emergency?
Umm... I'm pretty sure hospitals already have these units deployed.
I'd swear the night nurse I had the last time I was in hospital was a robot.
Doctors already employ remote units to gather data- they are called NURSES.
I like microcars
The name... ...too close to RIP
Hrm, interesting that they are planning on using controllers like the Wii uses. From what I had read previously I thought it was going to use an iPad interface to control it and allow for immediate results coordinal to its position. -- SnappleX
tl;dr. If it is a telepresence robot, it should have a movable screen+camera on an arm that can lower to patient's head height when standing/sitting and move around the body. That and a document scanner and usb reader. And maybe infrared or ultrasound scanner if you want to augment senses. Instead it looks like they intentionally make it look tall and authoritarian. Perhaps it would be useful as a way to treat people in areas where there are no specialists. It could be staffed 24x7. Of course the idea that it stands in for a physical GP on the spot sounds pretty ridiculous.
Have gnu, will travel.
...well ..... I suppose it infringes if it's calibrated for male patients.
i am going to go ahead and hold off on any surgeries where rp-kevorkian is assisting.
I agree. A telepresence robot is a poor choice for surgery. You also should not have it fetch beer from the fridge or groom your chinchilla. For robotic surgery, it is advised to use a robotic surgery robot. They tend to be more suited for the purpose (for whatever reason).
There is the potential for some good to come from this. Perhaps when the remote presence devices get cheap enough, the "doctor" can come to you in the comfort of your own home like in ye goode olde days. Maybe they can even become cheap enough for many people to buy their own "doctor". We'll have to bust up the FDA/insurance/DME cartel first though, otherwise the robot will sell for 1000% what it would if it was a free market.
Dr. Lexus will be with you shortly.
BilldaCat
I'd rather have one of Larry Niven's autodocs.
Just make sure to double-check those indicator bulbs!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff