January
2007
Robots and Healthcare1
Google alerts is a pretty good way to stay on top of news. You can specify search terms and have Google send you an email with the latest internet and news clippings. One of the search terms I have Google send me news on is “Robots” (I want to be prepared for the uprising). As robots become more and more advanced and pervasive, it is only natural that healthcare applications come into play. And indeed, I have just found a pretty out-there robot/healthcare application.
The company is called Cyberdyne Systems (that is strike 1 on the marketing plan - anybody seen Terminator?!?) and the product is an artificial powered exoskeleton, known as HAL (not kidding and that is strike 2 on the marketing plan).
Once I got past the marketing challenges, I began to see how this technology could be used for patients that have lost the use of their limbs or need assistance standing or walking. Talk about durable medical equipment. These things could kick a walker’s butt…or at least stomp on it and reduce it to a pile of twisted metal.
Can you imagine seeing grandma with a set of robo-legs? It is funny, but pretty cool when you think about it.
Apparently, HAL uses electrodes to pick up signals from the nervous system to control the unit. If they threw on the gyro from Segway, these things could concievably enable a paralyzed person to stand and move about.
While the production version is not out on the market yet - and we will have to see if Medicare will cover it - I will continue to keep my eye on robot news. You never know what they will think of next.