Robonurse, Coming to a Hospital Near You

I'm always happy to hear about the advancement of robots and how they will help people in the near future. Japan has an interesting mix of robo-helpers that attend to the elderly, and now Germans are working on a robonurse that will tend to the sick. Nursebot may not look very humanoid, but she has some very interesting abilities. She can monitor a patient's temperature by beaming lasers or using thermal imaging cameras. She also has face and voice recognition technology that recognizes the difference between patients or unauthorized visitors.

Unfortunately, they also make her sound like a glorified Roomba that can mop up spills and clean windows, so human nurses can spend more time with patients. Swarms of these helpful mobile robots may be ready by 2010 to guide visitors and take messages. But in the meantime, she's still in development labs awaiting orders. She's just what the doctor ordered.

Are you ready for the robonurse?

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