Canada's new "Robotic IV Automation" medical assistant
By Cyrus Farivar 
posted September 10th 2006 4:41AM
posted September 10th 2006 4:41AM
Our fellow Americans: be forewarned, our seemingly friendly neighbors in the Great White North may soon be invading with legions upon legions of seemingly helpful medical assistant robots. Oh yes, this time it's coming from the inocuous city of Winnipeg (made famous for housing the Royal Canadian Mint!), where the Robotic IV Automation is in development by Intelligent Hospital Systems. This robot (which surely must be related to both Penelope and Emma), can, as its name implies monitor the refilling of various medications, in syringe and IV forms, up to 100 perscriptions per hour. Given that our country is already afraid of the importation of cheap Canadian drugs, we think that we should be even more frightened of the devious importation of robots that can administer those cheap Canadian drugs that will take jobs away from hard-working American nurses.[Via Robot Gossip]
I for one, welcome our robotic medical assistant overlords.
+new
GratZ! You a first position in Technoraty rating!
Okay I'm going on record. No more "I for one's"
Too many amateurs clogging up the works anymore.
I like robots, but make 'em "Three Laws" safe.
YES, thank you Canada for not giving it a stupid name like Emma or Penelope!
ya, but we named the robot arm on the space shuttle and international space station(we really got a thing for robot arms in canada) th CanadArm 1 and 2 respectively.
Just don't get the guy who programmed the Therac-25 to work on the project. That's one Canadian medical technology that I (a proud Canadian) would never touch, and with good reason!
Viz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therac
I, for one, welcome our new era of 'no more I, for ones'!
Just for anyone who is keeping track, there are _two Royal Canadian Mints. One in Winnipeg, and one in Ottawa. The one in Winnipeg concentrates on bills, and it's coins in Ottawa. Check em out if you're in either city - way cool!
This is just another step towards the eventual robotic bimbo babe...cool
wow I live in winnipeg, AKA PEG CITY!!! I have never been to the mint but I really want to go now! Also it is probably one of the flattest regions in North America and if you are a skier like myself, please don't even consider coming here as a ski destination.
Also on a side note, the CanadArm2 on the ISS (International Space Station) has two arms and can doubleback over itself so it can worm around the main truss of the ISS, pretty sweet! Go Canada!
Special_K,
Thats nuts! I had never heard of this incident with the Therac-25 until you posted that link. Reading the wikipedia description of the problem, it seems insane that they designed it this way and that they didnt take obvuious steps to prevent that from happening - yikes! I guess now - 20 years later - ity is more standard proceedure to have checks and reviews in place when having software control over life critical systems - but it should have been obvious then.
all of this engadget joking about robots rising up and killing the humans - well, we see from that link that it has already happened! crazy...
Medibot!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/lookaroundyou/people/medibot.shtml
".....that will take jobs away from hard-working American nurses."
Ask around. A large amount of your nurses are Canadian.
While it may be able to monitor the deliveries of certain types of medication, I do not know many patients who would enjoy having it ADMINISTERED by a Robotic Arm. And Canadian drugs may be cheaper, but a big, white robotic arm vs. nurses and patient concerns? Hm...
It's not going to be here tomorrow. I don't think nurses have anything to worry about, especially since it's one of the job industries which have high job security. All sorts of nurses are needed everywhere, esp. the US, where we're grabbing up nurses from 'round the globe.
Responding to an earlier post, there are the two mints, in Winnipeg and Ottawa, but neither produce bills. That's another organization. The RCM in Winnipeg produces circulation coins for Canada and other countries, and the Ottawa location handles collectors coins and precious metal coins.
Cheers.
Get the facts straight from the source:
http://www.rivasystem.com/index.html
1 - The system dispenses syringes and IV Bags for Hospital use only. No pills whatsoever.
2 - The system does not administer, that is a ward nurse's task.
3 - The drugs used will be the same as those used in hospitals today.
4 - The system will remove human error and help hospital meet new pharmacy cleanliness guidelines.
We've made a minor correction to account for this. Thanks for the heads-up.