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Swallow the Doctor: The Present and Future of Robots Inside Us (hackaday.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the doctor-is-seeing-you-now dept.

szczys writes: Feynman predicted that we would some day "swallow the doctor" and to some extent that is already happening. There are cameras in pill-form that the patient swallows to monitor the digestive tract, and pacemakers are now inserted via catheter rather than major surgery. The question is: where are we going with robots we can put inside our bodies? Intuitively it seems far away, but there is already an open source platform for capsule robots. Medical devices are where the money's at when it comes to hardware development. We can expect to see a lot of work in the coming years to make the man-machine hybrid something that is much more organic, sprinkled with small tablets of robot.

31 comments

  1. Swallow the Doctor? That's what she DID! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, the sexual innuendo!

  2. I thought.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    .. the headline was about Lucy, the black-haired nurse of "The Knick".
    Nothing to see here, move along..

  3. Umm by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2

    Swallow the Doctor

    Is this the sequel to Nympho Nurses?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    1. Re:Umm by TWX · · Score: 1

      Swallow the Doctor

      Is this the sequel to Nympho Nurses?

      No, just some really bad Doctor Who fanfiction...

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:Umm by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      I have known a couple young women who followed that path to financial security.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
  4. Swallow the Doctor by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Funny

    Worst Dr. Who episode ever.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re:Swallow the Doctor by TWX · · Score: 1

      I donno, if it'd been an episode featuring Peri or perhaps both Tegan and Nyssa it could have been rather memorable...

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:Swallow the Doctor by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 2

      Well, you know It's Bigger on the Inside...

    3. Re:Swallow the Doctor by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 1

      Done. Twice.

      --
      Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
    4. Re:Swallow the Doctor by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      Worst Dr. Who episode ever.

      First "track" in TFS, now you with "Dr" ... what's with all the typos, people?!

      I've seen it both ways, though, you're right, more often spelled out and I was being lazy. But for you pedants... From 'Doctor Who' or 'Dr. Who'? Experts weigh in on the great name debate (and other links):

      It turns out that answer isn’t especially clear-cut. The conflict comes from the fact that the BBC previously credited “Doctor Who” as “Dr. Who” during the first run of the series, and there even was a 1965 movie released called “Dr. Who and the Daleks.”

      The BBC, different actors who’ve played the Doctor, and the show’s original creators have all often used ‘Dr. Who’ as an abbreviation for the show. Today more people prefer not to do that because it implies it’s the character’s name, .... I’ve noticed it’s mainly American fans who get angry about it, oddly.”

      The proper title for the series is ‘Doctor Who.’ To abbreviate it is not only lazy, but it sort of misses the point. Here’s why: The lead character’s name is ‘The Doctor’ (or at least that’s the only name he goes by). From the earliest episodes back in the ’60s, when he introduced himself as ‘The Doctor,’ he was usually met with the response, ‘Doctor who?’ That’s where the series’ title comes from (as any longtime fan will be happy to tell you). When people abbreviate the title to ‘Dr. Who,’ they’re actually removing his name from the title, adding the abbreviation of a professional occupation that has nothing to do with his adventures in time and space, and suggesting that ‘Who’ is his name. (It’s not.) So it’s wrong on not one, but three, very infuriating levels.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    5. Re:Swallow the Doctor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why so pedantic? Does it really matter? (no.)

      Although I can easily imagine a hardcore Who fan saying The Doctor's first name is "The" with a straight face.

      As for "track," anyone who's unfamiliar with the phrase should be advised it's actually "digestive tract."

    6. Re:Swallow the Doctor by TWX · · Score: 1

      Next you're going to complain about Star Track...

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    7. Re:Swallow the Doctor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Docked her who?

      You, my friend, are homophonophobic.

  5. Best Modern Advance in Mental Health Care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Smart pills will mark a new age in mental health care.

    The biggest problem, by far, is that patients are not compliant with their medication.

    For ethical reasons, it is not possible to forcibly medicate someone unless they are a danger to themselves or others.

    So this leaves someone with a mental illness (who may have a tenuous grasp on reality that varies from hour to hour) to self-regulate their own medication.

    At some point, their self-regulation fails, they go non-compliant on the medication, and have a psychotic episode.
    The police bring them to the hospital, where they get re-medicated, stabilized, and released.
    And this vicious cycle repeats again...

    If a hospital can instead use a smart pill to re-medicate, the person with a serious mental illness need not self-regulate their medication.
    It fact, it may be next to impossible for them to go non-compliant.

    This may stop a single bad day from spiraling down into a bad week, a bad six months, and a psychotic episode that ends with police intervention.

    It will truly be a revolution in mental health care.

    1. Re:Best Modern Advance in Mental Health Care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your cure may actually be worse than the disease. Unless and until this smart pill can have a feedback loop to also lower the dosage so the person isn't getting to that place where they'd rather go crazy than take those pills again and be numbed to all feeling, then this is an evil idea.

    2. Re:Best Modern Advance in Mental Health Care by godel_56 · · Score: 1

      Smart pills will mark a new age in mental health care.

      The biggest problem, by far, is that patients are not compliant with their medication.

      [ . . . ]

      If a hospital can instead use a smart pill to re-medicate, the person with a serious mental illness need not self-regulate their medication. It fact, it may be next to impossible for them to go non-compliant.

      This may stop a single bad day from spiraling down into a bad week, a bad six months, and a psychotic episode that ends with police intervention.

      It will truly be a revolution in mental health care.

      While I see your point, often the failure to self medicate with anti-psychotics is due to the truly horrible side effects of the drugs, so for the patients it's a mixed bag.

    3. Re:Best Modern Advance in Mental Health Care by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      That and what do you do if the patient is having an allergic reaction? Wait a month?

      At best you're going to see 'smart patches' - something that you can apply to the skin that might have a month's worth of medication (like some birth control patches now) and later on, devices that can control the distribution of the bug. Besides, the gut transit time is 24 hour or so, it would have to attach itself to the gut wall somehow. Whatcouldpossiblygowrong?

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  6. also a suppository by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And it also comes in the form of a suppository!

  7. African or European by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't know...

  8. Double Edged Sword by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That which can heal can hurt, here's some appropriate Sci-Fi for you: http://poliscifi.pbworks.com/f/marusek+WeWereOut.pdf

  9. Resistance by NEDHead · · Score: 2

    is futile ...

  10. I only clicked on this to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    please stop with the vapid buzzfeed-esque titles. Just fucking stop, people here are not that stupid (or at least didn't used to be).

    1. Re:I only clicked on this to say by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      You must be new here.

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      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:I only clicked on this to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      people here are not that stupid (or at least didn't used to be).

      Yes, it did. If you thought it didn't, it's only because you were worse at noticing stupidity then than you are now.

  11. VR droctor by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  12. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  13. Call me Batou by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look out, Major. I'm coming for you.

  14. News? by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    Nurses have swallowed parts of doctors for centuries.

  15. Oh, Clara by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You really can help this old man to see God.

  16. Swallow the comments by TheGrimmReaper · · Score: 1

    Never mind me, I just came here to read the "swallow" comments ;)

  17. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion