Posted on 01/24/2007 10:30:44 AM PST by Dark Skies
Swarms of intelligent robots that can clean, tidy and even attend to patients remotely could revolutionise the provision of healthcare in hospitals.
The European team of scientists behind the development hope the robotic nurses could be put to work in hospitals within three years, helping to patrol and monitor wards, dealing with problems and easing the burden on hospital staff.
Newcastle is one of four UK universities involved in the EU-funded project, known as IWARD, which is being co-ordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany. The others are Cardiff, Dublin and Warwick.
Dr Robert Bicker, a senior lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Systems Engineering, who, along with Dr John Hedley, Ben Towell and Ron Jamieson of the Resource Centre for Innovation and Design, are designing how the robots will move around.
In an interview with The Journal, Dr Bicker said: 'These robots would communicate with each other in what's called a swarm. They would have their own intelligence and, in theory, be able to optimise what they're all doing.
'We would hope they could do cleaning. MRSA is a major issue, and if it were possible to manage a robot to routinely clean wards, walls and windows in the hospital, that would serve a very useful purpose', he added.
The team hope to be able to test their creation on wards at the Freeman Hospital in around three years' time.
I thought these jobs was the reason why they are importing all those mulsims...
The prototype.....someday......
Mmmmm... robot nurses, very sexy.
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
They can pick up all the patients killed by socialized medicine and take them to the morgue.
meh- we've already got robot surgical proceedures going on these days-
This truly is turning into a BattleStar Galactica world- pretty soon we'll be fighting off Cyborgs and wondering if the next person we meet is a robot or a real person. I predict a virus that wipes out the robotic world though
The following link does not relate to this thread http://sacredscoop.com
This is good but how soon before the feminists get all upset over the Cherry2000 version.
We already have some of that with the AI receptionists who respond to human voices.
Imagine call centers which have no humans and the accent of your choice.
I wonder how well they perform CPR and identify potentially life threatening symptoms that can't be measured by an instrument.
Just give me the Edward G. Robinson Soylent farewell package and be done with it. I would like my meager inheritance to go to my kids, not medicare ie the state.
Another problem is that robots and other machines tend to not give a shit about people, or anything else for that matter. Would anyone want a human looking after them that had these character traits, or lack thereof?
As usual, the headline leads you on, but the article disappoints. These are not nurses. They are janitors.
They are called intelligent. No. They are robots. Robots can not be intelligent. Intelligence is a characteristic of humans. Humans have not been able to duplicate human intelligence in a computer program. Humans will never be able to. The human mind is much too complex to be duplicated in a program.
Perhaps a better use for these robots would be to replace all the members of congress.
"Nurse Ratchet, how about a sponge bath?"
Vy sophisticated diagnostic programs have been around for about 20 years. I would imagine they have evolved by now to an incredible state. That said, the only place I have seen them is on the Discovery Channel.
actually you should remember this is SOCIALIZED medicine funding this.
"Mr. or Mrs. X is over the age of 65. Based on approved cost to society tables mr. or mrs. X is presumed to want to die." Or the machine will be programed to NOT recusitate due to expense to society OR some other factor.
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