Paraphyletic

ikenbot:

Live Long and Prosper

Credit: Johnson Space Center

George Takei (Star Trek’s Sulu) and Robonaut throwing the Vulcan salute during a recent visit to NASA Johnson Space Center.

Funny to see this on my dash.

We are going to host a demo of that arm (the Robonaut’s, not George Takei’s) on Wednesday as part of a robots-in-medicine event sponsored by The Methodist Hospital Research Institute and the MIT Enterprise Forum of Texas. Should be fun.

Currently, telemedicine surgical procedures (performed on patients by doctors who aren’t in the room) are accomplished with robots that are very much specialized to do one or two things. A robotic device that functions like a human arm and hand could be used to manipulate any of the tools surgeons and physicians use.

(via kqedscience)