Korean boffins build COVID-bot to shove a swab right up your hooter The South Korean Institute of Machinery and Materials has developed a robotic rig capable of shoving a COVID-19-sputum-sampling-swab right up your hooter, so that medicos don’t have to come into contact with possibly-contagious patients. The robot is remotely-controlled, with a joystick-like device allowing staff to aim a swab …
Just the _description_ of that sucker filled my mind with horrid visuals of "New! From the makers of the Sinusbot, The Colostobot 9000!"
I think the blast doors on my ventilator shaft slammed shut so hard that they may have cracked my frame.
*CoughTwitchComicalWince*
There was a robot developed for throat swaps recently - seems less likely to stab you in the brain.
https://www.therobotreport.com/danish-startup-develops-throat-swabbing-robot-for-covid-19-testing/
You have to imagine both of these machines - and any others developed - will be useful beyond Covid, so we're better prepared for an eventual next time.
Given peoples' bodies aren't standardized and this seems like a delicate task which would profit from the human sense of touch, I wonder if it is the best candidate for robotization. Especially since the out-of-sight operator will most likely be some grad student more focused on his/her Facebook updates.
Also, between placing the heads the victims patients exactly where the robot expects them, and removing the corpses every now and then, I'm not sure it will be more efficient than a standard human in a hazmat suit (which would certainly be cheaper).
Sounds more like a case of "now how could we make some money out of this Covid-19 mess?".
How long before that shows up in an NSFW video?
As for it's intended nasaly intrusive uses, I'll pass and do it myself if nobody wants to get near me, having had a couple of metres of ointmenty bandage stuck up my schnozz after breaking it, I am reluctant to have anyone mess around with it.
The breaking wasn't as bad as the treatment.
On how good the software is? Does it fail safe or would it just carry on regardless?
Out of all a number of robotic machines around this is one that I don't want to see get stuck in a loop or crash (especially not while it's trying to peel the back of my throat out through my nose).
There are already robots doing surgery for prostate cancer, although the full picture isn't clear yet the men seem to do better.
Admittedly, by the time you arrive on that operating table the men in white coats have already done their best to distribute cancerous cells throughout your body from your prostate anyway, and it won't really make much difference. (We all have cancerous prostate cells by a certain age - but most of us manage to avoid the biopsy that would turn it into cancerous cells elsewhere.)
It's the title of an awful '80s horror movie and I both owned it and had the poster on my wall. As a smoker I need to pick my nose just to breathe. Lately I've been wrapping my finger in tissue, but I would welcome a robot assistant.
"How come I can pick my ears but not my nose?
Who made up that rule anyway?"
-Ani DiFranco (1990)
The World Health Organisation, Ani, the Center for Disease Control.
I'm aware of at least two separate rapid result Covid19 tests under development* that have no need to shove swabs deep into orifices as they are use blood. Admittedly, that brings its own problems, but getting a drop of blood is an established routine for diabetics and thus amply supported by all sorts of gadgetry, even when not in a lab.
* Well, actually past development, I know this because they're in the process of getting investment after successful human trials.
14 years ago I was tested for breast cancer. I'd mentioned in passing to my GP that I felt a small lump under a nipple. She felt it, and then asked, "Can I feel your balls?"
Only situation that could sound scary.
I never knew men could get that, but apparently it is deadlier due to lack of soft tissue so I was fast-tracked and sent straight to the hospital for testing.
The doctor stuck a cartoon needle the size of my forearm through my nipple and poked around to get a sample. He had a pretty teenage nurse so I'd steeled myself to look brave, but I screamed and nearly cried.
Then I was sent for a mammogram. I am/was skinny so the nurse had to squeeze my bloody painful nipple between two metal plates.
The worst part though was the wait for the results, which were fine but I burned a few bridges in that time.
My point being no swab test should scare anyone. I also don't mean to discourage anyone from taking a breast cancer test; it is bad but it's better than the alternative
The pituitary is right there also. That is how they surgically remove a pituitary tumor - through your nose.
I've had sinus surgery twice. the first just used a local anesthetic, and I watched the ENT doctor pull crap out of my sinus through my nose, which was then packed with bandages. Not pleasant at all, but better than the second time when they completely put me under, and I had to rinse my nose and sinuses for several weeks afterwards.
Based on my experiences, I'm hoping to avoid a COVID-19 nasal swab!
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