Sorry guys and gals for not posting last week, had to do double shift...bummer.
But I'm back and want to show you this cool robot!
It fantastic, it's stupendous, it's marvelous, it's Sphero!
Sphero is this cool, IOS/Android controlled robot, that can be used in various ways. It's a colour changing robot, it's waterproof, and nearly indestructible. ( If my wife is reading this, I don't want one, I need one, pretty please!! ) It can even be used as a controller, to control new games on your IOS/Android devices.
The new version can go up to 2,1 m/s ( 7 ft/s ), that's fast for 'n little guy. With it brains,battery and motor protected inside the tough outer polycarbonate casing, and with optional nubby cover Sphero really can go anywhere.
Please check out Sphero it is really cool. It even changes reality, you might have heard of augmented reality, but this really is a game changer.
I also include these videos, just to show off the little wonder that is Sphero.
Monday, 5 August 2013
Move over dr mc dreamy, Da Vinci is here to help. Well not quite Leonardo Da Vinci, but Da Vinci the surgical robot. It has four arms equipped with surgical instruments and cameras that a doctor controls with a stereoscopic ( fancy word for 3D ) vision. The doctor or surgeon sits at the console and looks through two small monitors, one for each eye to give the 3D view.
Now get this they actually named this after Leonardo Da Vinci's Robot, who knew?
This is a model based on Leonardo's drawings...
That's enough for the history lessons now let's get back to modern era..
I took my time researching this "robot", because I want to give an unbiassed display of what it really is.
There is good and then there is the bad and then well there is the not so good but what can you do.
First the good, Da Vinci has been used to improve upon the doctor but not to replace the doctor, so mc steamy you're safe for now. Da Vinci is 'n remote controlled tool, if you boil it down to the nuts and bolts. But a very fancy and well cool tool, that has a few valid points. The jointed-wrist exceeds the natural range of motion of the human hand, who wants needs a double jointed doctor anyhow...
The motion of the "instruments" or arms can be scaled meaning big movements on the doctor hand will actually be very small movements on the robots side. Tremor reduction is also a big part, doctors get tired after long operations but da vinci stays steady as a rock.
With improved dexterity and great precision the da Vinci Surgical system makes it possible to perform minimally invasive procedures, with benefits less pain and less blood loss ( told you about the ugly )
Now for the bad... Ta da dum
Calling Donald Trump, calling Donal Trump where are you?
Costing a massive $2 million, and if that's not the worst the disposable supplies normally cost $1 500 per procedure, with huge maintenance costs, besides this over 1,840 da Vinci Robots have been installed worldwide ( As of July 2012 ) . Doctors need expensive training, and they must operate on twelve to eighteen patients before they get the hang of the systems. And now get this, minimally invasive operations can take up to twice as long as a traditional surgery...? What? That can't be right... Then what are all the fuss about, well see it like a stepping stone, today we have the da Vinci S, and tomorrow, we will have a fully autonomous doctor that does the scanning ( X-ray, cat scans etc ) diagnose and even performs the procedure by itself. Remember the days when mobile phones could only phone and text and nothing else?
And now for the not so good...
The robot is difficult for users to learn and has not been shown to be more effective that traditional surgeries. There have also been claims of patients injuries caused by stray electrical currents released from inappropriate parts of the surgical tips. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association claims that side effects and blood loss in robotically-performed hysterectomies are no better than those performed by traditional surgery, despite the significantly greater cost of the system. As of 2013, the FDA is investigating problems with the da Vinci robot, including deaths during surgeries that used the device; a number of related lawsuits are also underway.
This does not seem to good for Da Vinci, but problems need to be sorted and the wrinkles ironed out. I believe robots will not replace doctors or anyone else, but if used correctly will enhance our abilities, cut costs and provide better solutions to tough problems.
