...it works. This year it highlighted VR developer partnerships with Rendever, which creates experiences for LTC residents, and VRHealth’s physical therapy at home. SanaHealth has a pulsed light/sound pain reduction device and the VoiceItt speech recognition device which translates the speech of the severely impaired into intelligible language. Robots continue to seek a market, albeit tinier and we confess, occasionally more amusing. Samsung’s Ballie robot, about the size of an orange, will roll through your home minding your pets, monitoring your safety, and interfacing with your smart devices and apps to make absolutely sure you get enough exercise and track... Continue Reading
Search Results for robot
The CES circus opens its largest tent yet in health tech, AI, 5G, and more
...and Dr. Mehmet Oz, and some Grizzled Pioneer speakers and moderators such as Laurie Orlov, Chris Otto, Sean Slovenski, and Jane Sarasohn-Kahn. The Digital Health Summit is itself a Grizzled Pioneer as it goes back at CES to 2013–and my, how the players have changed. (Whatever happened to Sonny Vu?) The Wearables Tech Summit is about the form and function of wearables, plus VR, AR (augmented reality), and of course Peleton. Accessibility is sadly a mismatch (mish-mash?) of home networks, 5G, IoT, and a pitch competition. What’s big? 5G, AI anything, and autonomous vehicles. What’s faded in the stretch? Robots.... Continue Reading
A telemedicine ‘robot’ delivers end of life news to patient: is there an ethical problem here, Kaiser Permanente?
...emotional video that, BTW, breaks patient-doctor confidentiality by showing the (unnamed, but not for long) doctor giving medical instructions to Mr. Quintana. It is not the telemedicine technology, it is how it is being used. In this case, with insensitivity. The blame will be laid, in this shallow time, at the feet of the ‘robot’. Rightly, blame should also be laid at the feet of the increasingly ‘robotic’ practices of major health systems. There will certainly be more to this story. A view at some variance, but winding up in the same place, is expressed by Dr. Jayne in HIStalk.... Continue Reading
Robots’ largely positive, somewhat equivocal role in therapy for children with autism and cerebral palsy (HIMSS)
A Georgia Tech study presented at this week’s HIMSS19 conference presented findings of an eight-week study of children with specific neurological conditions who were assisted by robotics in specific therapies for movement and cognition. The study began with the simple attraction of children to robots. Robots also don’t have the negative connotations of therapists, and in fact, based on the studies cited, robots are more trusted than humans by both adults and children. For a child, robots ‘repetitive and predictable interactions’ can be reassuring (like Pepper in a Belgium hospital two years ago) , along with ‘gamified’ therapies and child-robot... Continue Reading
It’s Official: CES is now a health tech event (updated)
...exhibitors and a 15 percent increase in the amount of floor space dedicated to health tech. One winner was a big gamble by a small company–Living in Digital Times, which organizes and stages the Digital Health Summit. Ten years later, it turned out to be right place, right time for the founders who work hard to keep it on trend. Lifestyle, robotics, self-care, assistive tech (even exoskeletons), wearables, cosmetic “wellness” devices like P&G’s Opté, and Alexa-type home assistants/robots all now fit into the CES purview. Trial balloons by young companies, AI-powered concept devices from big companies, watches (including the Apple-beater... Continue Reading
A critical take on Pepper’s Parliament Question Time (UK)
...The Japanese have pioneered large robots that do heavy work--such as lifting and transfer--which are badly needed in care settings.(Why this type of robot hasn't gained traction is beyond me--and perhaps they have other problems.) Kompai has developed an interactive robot that travels and responds per its touch screen with some success. (See our robotics coverage in the past) There are tabletop robots which for me are toy-like but seem to attract investors. Pepper is a bit of a 'dumb show' but in its very limited way could be useful in education. (I personally would like a cook and clean... Continue Reading
Pepper pays a first-ever robot visit to Commons on the future of AI and robotics on education, older adult care (UK)
...I am a resident robot at Middlesex University.” Pepper used voice, gesture, and his embedded front tablet to explain about the role robots like him will play in education and healthcare. At Middlesex, final year students in robotics, education, psychology, and biomedicine like Joana Miranda, one of his two escorts, work with Pepper on projects such as developing numeracy skills in primary school students. According to BBC News, Tory MP Lucy Allan dryly noted that Pepper was “better than some of the ministers we have had before us”. In healthcare for older adults, the Pepper robot developed by Softbank is... Continue Reading
Alerts moving to Thursdays; TTA seeks contributors
Starting this Thursday, TTA updates will be sent to subscribers on Thursdays. This is due to Editor Donna’s new full-time position which has sadly cut down on her writing time. (Oh, for a robot to send to work!). That being said, we are seeking contributors on an occasional to regular basis to send us articles. If you are an observer of the health care and health tech scene in the US, UK, Europe, Ireland, or in fact anywhere in the world, we’d like to hear from you. Articles can be about conferences, events, R&D, M&A, news, policy, or thoughtful views... Continue Reading
PARO: The robotic therapy seal that benefits so few
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/paro1jpg.jpg.size-custom-crop.1086×0.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]I have a problem with that cute, robotic seal cub PARO. More accurately, I have a problem with the ethics of the business model of the Japanese company that makes it, Intelligent System Co. Ltd. PARO started development in 1993 and the first English press release was in 2004 – a year before Telehealth and Telecare Aware started! Since then the indications that PARO is good for people with dementia have been building and building, as Editor Donna most recently highlighted in this item: PARO therapy robot tested, cleared by NHS for — hygiene. I have no... Continue Reading
PARO therapy robot tested, cleared by NHS for — hygiene
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/PARO.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]PARO, the therapeutic robot seal developed in Japan by Professor Takanori Shibata for socialization use with geriatric dementia patients, is moving closer to being approved for use in the UK. It passed a cleaning and hygiene test conducted over nine months by Dr. Kathy Martyn, principal lecturer in the University’s School of Health Sciences, on a 10-bed dementia ward run by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. The findings were that PARO was safe within the hospital setting for an acute care dementia unit. TTA Editors have been covering PARO since 2010 (!) and despite the qualms in... Continue Reading
Most Recent Comments