Dec 30 2010
Emergency medicine specialists and computer engineers at Tennessee-based Vanderbilt University announced that robot assistants will aid in managing patients in the ED.
The Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the university, Mitch Wilkes has led the team to present a paper titled ‘Heterogeneous Artificial Agents for Triage Nurse Assistance,’ at the Humanoids 2010 Conference held in Nashville. The paper focuses on the use of hospital ED robots.
Robots are useful to reduce the number of mistakes, ease the ED staff’s workload, and to minimize waiting times of patients. The robots would collect medial data, provide cautious diagnoses to staff, and make necessary diagnostic measurements. In addition, the cognitive machines would permit patients to enroll on their own through a robotic kiosk after entering the ED. The patients would have their signs recorded without the supervision of staff. The robots would alert staff if a patient requires urgent care.
The new robot prototype includes a touch-screen display and a camera system, and can measure pulse, blood oxygenation, and weight. The team said that the construction of the robots would require a minimum of five years to complete.