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"I received a nice letter the other day from the Dalai Lama. He had read 'The Nine Billion Names of God'. It is about a computer at a Tibetan monastery."
- Arthur C. Clarke
 |
| Autodoc | ||
| An automated physician, a fully autonomous surgical robot. |
The autodoc is an early example of a fully automated device that diagnosed, treated and tended a patient.
| But they got him into the autodoc anyway. It was a puppeteer-shaped coffin, form-fitted to Nessus himself, and bulky Puppeteer surgeons and mechanics must have intended that it should handle any conceivable
circumstance. But had they thought of decapitation?
They had. There were two heads in there, and two more with necks attached, and enough organs and body parts to make several complete puppeteers. Grown from Nessus himself, probably; the faces on the heads looked familiar. |
| From Ringworld,
by Larry Niven. Published by Ballantine in 1970 Additional resources -
|
The autodoc also appears in Madness Has Its Place, a 1990 story by Niven. This intriguing story explores the uses of different personalities in society. Are there occasions when you need people who are, well, unbalanced and not very social? Can an automated medical device provide what is needed to keep you balanced - and then unbalance you if needed?
"Run it in an autodoc. Ten personality choices. The chemical differences aren't big, but...infantry, which means killing on foot..."
Be sure to take a look at the entry for crechepod, from The Godmakers, by Frank Herbert.
For the most part, expert systems running on computers may make use of data from EEG or other monitors to provide a better visualization of the data for medical staff (see Penn Researchers Develop Smart Intensive Care Unit System Using Advanced Computer Intelligence. Only a few systems actually allow the hardware itself to make an intervention in the patient's care; for example, if a patient's vital signs merit it, additional drugs may be injected intravenously.
"Something is happening in Aristarchus, something that requires a medic."
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Ringworld
More Ideas
and Technology by Larry Niven
Tech news articles related to Ringworld
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven
Autodoc-related
news articles:
- ERNIE The Robot Pharmacist - More Accurate Than Humans
- LSTAT-lite Life Support For Trauma and Transport-lite Demoed
- Doctor-Bots Play 'Operation'
- Robot Surgeon - Autonomous Tabletop Robotic Surgery At Duke
- Shrapnel-Locating Autonomous Robot
- App Turns iPhone Into Autodoc (Almost)
- C-Path Computational Pathologist Better Than Doctors
- AI 'Doctor' System Better Than Human
- AliveCor App Detects Heart Arrhythmias, Has FDA Approval
- Sense.ly Virtual Nurse Will See You Soon
- Radisens' Gemini Instant Blood Tests
| EDSAP Wearable Stroke Detection |
| In Vivo Micromotors Powered By Stomach Acid |
| Patient Walks Out With Fully Artificial Heart |
| Radisens' Gemini Instant Blood Tests |
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Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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'The robot drew his cab up before Eric's modest six-room bungalow.'
'Hello, Europa... Is this your robot I'm looking at, in sector 94?'
What other robots are strong enough to carry you? Do you want them to do so?
'I'm going to pump the air from this room... so that the interior will be like airless and pressure-less space.'
'Plates and cups ... slowly floated down to the floor and were not broken.'
