Your New Robotic Doctor

On one hand we are worried about robots taking over the world and on the other they are being seen as a boon in the field of medicine. There is a new kind of specialist at the Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. They are the brand new fleet of telemedicine robots  that are being deployed by doctors to examine patients remotely.

It is an advanced teleconferencing system on wheels that can be accessed by doctors on their laptop, tablet or smartphone. It allows them to examine the patient in far greater detail than they could before. Dr. Anthony Magit, director of Rady Children’s telemedicine program said that the response to telemedicine technology has been very favorable.

Patients realize they are seeing specialists who might not be accessible to them in their own location, so they feel they are getting cutting edge, high-technology care from top experts, said Dr Magit. It also allows the doctors to consult on cases in a timely manner even when they are physically absent.

Would you like to be examined by a telemedicine robot rather than a doctor? How would you design a robot that could do more than just tell the doctor what the problem with the patient was? Think about interesting science projects that you could develop on this theme.