Japanese researchers develop the best robot ever
Posted by: Jon Ben-Mayor on 06/05/2014 08:14 AM
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Japanese researchers in their infinite wisdom have developed a haptic device that when attached to a persons hand, not unlike a fingertip oximeter, allows the wearer to feel the softness of virtual breasts. I can almost hear the thousands of basement geeks screaming out in unison for this invention.
On a serious note, one important purpose for the device will be aiding in the detection of breast cancer.
According to IEEE Spectrum, the device could serve as a training tool, helping medical students become skilled in exams that involve feeling parts of the body with the hands. One particular application, they say, would be teaching students how to palpate breasts when looking for lumps.
The researchers, from Gifu University in Japan, call their invention a "multi-fingered haptic interface robot," and they presented it yesterday at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Hong Kong.
The volunteers reported that using the new system is "similar to the experience of touching a real object," and it's significantly better than the conventional haptic device.
The researchers plan to conduct more experiments, and hope that their hardware will prove accurate enough that it can one day be used to replace humans and animals for significant portions of medical training, mitigating issues of availability and ethics and becoming a valuable tool for training future physicians in the use of touch.
I will take two.
On a serious note, one important purpose for the device will be aiding in the detection of breast cancer.
According to IEEE Spectrum, the device could serve as a training tool, helping medical students become skilled in exams that involve feeling parts of the body with the hands. One particular application, they say, would be teaching students how to palpate breasts when looking for lumps.The researchers, from Gifu University in Japan, call their invention a "multi-fingered haptic interface robot," and they presented it yesterday at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Hong Kong.The volunteers reported that using the new system is "similar to the experience of touching a real object," and it's significantly better than the conventional haptic device.
The researchers plan to conduct more experiments, and hope that their hardware will prove accurate enough that it can one day be used to replace humans and animals for significant portions of medical training, mitigating issues of availability and ethics and becoming a valuable tool for training future physicians in the use of touch.
I will take two.
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