InformationWeek: The Business Value of Technology

10 Medical Robots That Could Change Healthcare

By Michelle McNickle 12/07/2012 From microbots that scrape plaque from arteries to personal assistant robots that help care for patients, medical robots are transforming the face of healthcare.

<Previous
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
12
Next >

E-mail
Share

Healthcare Robotics Nursing Assistant

Healthcare Robotics' Nursing Assistant uses a direct physical interface (DPI) that lets a nurse have direct control over the movement of the robot, a "human-scale" mobile manipulator called Cody. Using the DPI, the nurse is able to lead and position Cody by making direct contact with its "body." When the user grabs and moves either of the robot's end effectors -- or the black rubber balls attached to the robot -- Cody responds. For example, pulling forward or pushing backward make the robot do the same, and moving the end effector to the right or the left causes the robot to rotate. Users can also grab Cody's arm and abduct or adduct it at the shoulder, causing Cody to move sideways.

The company said Cody's DPI "significantly outperformed a comparable wireless game-pad interface in both objective and subjective areas, including number of collisions, time to complete the tasks, workload and overall preference."

Recommended Reading

NASA Mars Mission: No Little Green Men -- Yet

Spy Tech: 10 CIA-Backed Investments

Stolen NASA Laptop Had Unencrypted Employee Data

NASA's IT Future: Robot Telework, 3-D Printing

5 Healthcare Tools to Boost Patient Involvement

<Previous
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
12
Next >

To upload an avatar photo, first complete your Disqus profile. | View the list of supported HTML tags you can use to style comments. | Please read our commenting policy.