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Hall entered a booth and closed the door behind him. There was a couch, and a mass of complex equipment. In front of the couch was a television screen, which showed several lighted points. "Sit down," said a flat mechanical voice. "Sit down. Sit down." He sat on the couch. "Observe the screen before you. Place your body on the couch so that all points are obliterated." He looked at the screen. He now saw that the points were arranged in the shape of a man... ...the electronic body analyzer had been developed by Sandeman Industries in 1965, under a general government contract to produce body monitors for astronauts in space. It was understood by the government at that time that such a device, though expensive at a cost of $87,000 each, would eventually replace the human physician as a diagnostic instrument.

Technovelgy from The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton. Published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1969 Additional resources -

The device also included technology for sophisticated use of thermal imaging; see the entry for vein scanning.

Compare to the emergency treatment tank from Agent of Vega (1949) by James Schmitz, the shipboard medical treatment from Contagion (1950) by Katherine MacLean, the Gobathian from Time is the Simplest Thing (1961) by Clifford Simak, the surgical homeostatic unit from Now Wait For Last Year (1966) by Philip K. Dick, the autodoc from The Warriors (1966) by Larry Niven, the diagnostat from The Man in the Maze (1969) by Robert Silverberg, the crechepod from The Godmakers (1972) by Frank Herbert and the autosurgeon from Altered Carbon (2003) by Richard Morgan.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Andromeda Strain
  More Ideas and Technology by Michael Crichton
  Tech news articles related to The Andromeda Strain
  Tech news articles related to works by Michael Crichton

Electronic Body Analyzer-related news articles:
  - NEC Thermal Scans For Flu
  - Robotic Breast Exam And Biopsy
  - RoboDoc Friendly Robot Pulse-Taker

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