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Researchers Scrambling To Build Ebola-Fighting Robots
Lucas123 (935744) writes U.S. robotics researchers from around the country are collaborating on a project to build autonomous vehicles that could deliver food and medicine, and telepresence robots that could safely decontaminate equipment and help bury the victims of Ebola. Organizers of Safety Robotics for Ebola Workers are planning a workshop on Nov. 7. that will be co-hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Texas A&M, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the University of California, Berkeley. "We are trying to identify the technologies that can help human workers minimize their contact with Ebola. Whatever technology we deploy, there will be a human in the loop. We are not trying to replace human caregivers. We are trying to minimize contact," said Taskin Padir, an assistant professor of robotics engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
I have some of these robots already, they were developed in partnership with Inertia Labs of Battlebots fame. Please tell me how I can contact these folks so that I can hand the technology and protoypes over! I'm serious! http://www.robots-everywhere.c...
Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
See for yourself.
Lisias@Earth.SolarSystem.OrionArm.MilkyWay.Local.Virgo.Universe.org
In the most heavily affected areas, terrible hygene contributes directly to Ebola. Most of this is a direct result of things like tribal healers or mysticist traditions that involve the direct handling of and exposure to the bodily fluids of the deceased. Religion has also compounded efforts to treat ebola victims as some tribes have spiritual leaders that insist quarantine teams and hospitals are demons or not to be trusted. Among other diseases, Its why eradicating polio in africa has become an almost impossible effort as the oral treatment is widely considered to be a secret plan to cause sterility. We have the same issues in america, albeit to a lesser extent with anti-vaccination conspiricists and seventh day adventists that refuse to immunize their children or set foot in a hospital.
This is controversial but it should be said. but the biggest problem, religion, cant be solved with technology because religious zealots dont operate logically.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Ebola is a virus, if a person survives the disease they are apparently immune to at least the same strain. Training those people to provide care seems like a more viable option.
Please don't give robots religion. We don't need to have robots fighting for the same reasons we do.
vi versus emacs?
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
I can just see groups of robots slowly rolling down the cobblestone streets announcing, in typical monotoned robot-voice fashion, "BRING...OUT...YOUR...DEAD..."
Someday, children will sing songs about it. In the meantime, please get off my plane. TY.
Sorry kid, but your mum's an idiot.
Why do we have no good Ebola treatments already right now? Regulations. The FDA ordered Zmapp to stop testing back in July and ordered TMK-Ebola research suspended in January.
How much sense does it make to send a bunch of troops to Africa to build isolation camps (yeah, yeah,call them hospitals) for them? Zero. I mean, to your point, it's not like we couldn't save money by just paying local contractors to put up some buildings. Why do we want the military in the African construction business? Is it because that's the only tool available and the only semi-useful thing they could think of for them to do? Ideally, we wouldn't send anyone near other people with Ebola. It's called quarantine...
The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
It would be cheaper to develop a vaccine for ebola then to develop quarantine robots to deal with the effects. The reason this hasn't happened is because we let private companies run our medical system (hospitals, drugs, vaccines) instead of having government do this vital task, and private companies care more about making money than saving lives.