Each week, we spotlight a cool innovation recommended by some of the industry's top tech writers. This week's pick is a realistic artificial patient for med students.
There's now a mannequin that shows doctors and nurses in training what it's like to treat a real, suffering patient, said Matt Simon at Wired. Meet Hal, a "hyper-real" robot capable of shedding tears and bleeding, developed by the medical company Gaumard Scientific. Trainees "can wirelessly control him to go into anaphylactic shock or cardiac arrest," and if they "shine a light in his eyes, his pupils shrink." Hal, who will soon be available for $48,000, can be hooked up to real hospital machines; trainees can even "jolt him with a defibrillator."
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Hal is so realistic that instructors have seen trainees become "emotionally charged" by the intense simulations. His realistic breathing is made possible by a mechanical-pneumatic system, and "a cartridge in his leg allows him to exhale CO2." And the fake tears? They're generated by hydraulic systems, while servo motors that tug on his face make him look angry and scared.