REPORT FROM VENICE, ITALY

During July 2005, Telecom Italia sponsored an international conference on robotics at its Centre of the Future.  Dr. Heinrichs, Assoc. Dir. of SUMMIT was invited to present a Keynote Address on the topic of 'Applications of Robots in Medicine'.  (See robots.pdf for an abstract of the talk. See  presentation in ppt Right-click to save as.)

Professor Heinrichs sitting for the photo-shoot

Among the many available types used in medicine,  Dr. Heinrichs highlighted three from the Bay Area: the Da Vinci Surgical System, the Gamma-Knife, and the unexpected Robotars developed by SUMMIT as 'virtual patients' in Virtual 3D Worlds for medical team training in Emergency Medicine.  Robotars are learning objects that have been programmed in this application  as trauma victims of various types, that are delivered to Emergency Departments for diagnosis and treatment - their vital signs deteriorate progressively unless the care-giving avatars, representing trainees, conduct an assessment and institute appropriate therapy.  The vital signs return to normal as remedial treatment is instituted. Six robotars and scenarios were developed in a collaboration with the Simulation Center at Huddinge Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, a project funded by the Wallenberg Global Learning Network (WGLN), and with Phillip Harter, MD, Division of Emergency Medicine.

Robotlab's 'off-the-shelf' robot sketching the Heinrichs' portrait using custom software

Prof. Heinrichs' robo-portrait