February 10th, 2006
Robotic Candy Striper Tested in London Hospital
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
We’ve posted a lot of stories concerning robots of late, from an Ibsen play to the Pleo to the fate of the poor AIBO. St. Mary’s Hospital in London is trying out a robot which is remotely controlled by a doctor, to see how patients react to a “remote presence.” The trial being run by the department of biosurgery and surgical technology at Imperial College. The robot is dubbed “Sister Mary.”
The 5-foot-3-inch, 215-pound robot being tested out at St. Mary’s boasts a camera and tilting screen, runs Windows XP Professional and operates over a wireless 802.11b network that provides a data stream of 600 kilobits per second each way. The robot is controlled remotely by a doctor, whose face appears on the monitor that acts as the robot’s “head.” Source: News.com
We Say: Apparently, because the doctor’s head appears in the “head”, patients acclimate to this fairly quickly. Until I read the full article, I was wondering about practical uses, but it could be used to monitor and train staff remotely, as well as being used by experts at a different hospital when a remote hospital has an emergency. That all sounds pretty good, but (and I hate to be morbid, but I can’t pass this up), since they’re using Windows XP, has anyone thought of what a crash (BSOD) would mean? 
Alice Adds: Not be all sexist, but I thought the whole Candy Striper thing was supposed to be the one perk for being stuck in a hospital - at least for some paitients. This thing is creepy!
Jimmy says:
Ha, there was a recent episode of ER where one doctor was using one, following people around talking to them, and generally getting on the other doctor’s nerves.
February 10th, 2006 at 8:48 am
Alice says:
I saw that episode and they ended up unplugging him and throwing him in a broom closet.
February 10th, 2006 at 9:00 am
CJK says:
There was also press on the same general thing here around Detroit a couple months ago. Their big sell was “Doctor sharing”, allowing the doc to handle routine patient checks in multiple hospitals simultaneously. Sounds like a fine idea. (See the cell phone / germ post below, and image not having as much chance for cross pollination!) Also note that the BSOD issue should be about nil. I have not had, or heard of, anyone having a BSOD on XPsp2 machine if: It is a vetted, clean (no changes, downloads, etc.) system; unless it is a hardware failure. Since these machines will be running a vetted subset of windows and interface software, and will not have a person using (and abusing) it, the BSOD should be a non-issue until there is a hardware issue.
February 10th, 2006 at 9:11 am
Michael Santo says:
Yeah, honestly, I don’t see the BSOD being a big issue anyway, but it was a nice play on words.
February 10th, 2006 at 9:35 am
Mr. Pointy Head says:
I don’t like it.
February 10th, 2006 at 11:58 am
Steve says:
Alice as a Candy Striper…mmmm
February 10th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
jfb3 says:
Actually, Candy Stripers are the one perk of being an intern.
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