| Aug 23, 2012 |
Robotic glove detects breast cancer lumps
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(Nanowerk News) Two engineers and a Harvard Medical School student have teamed up and formed a company (MedSensation) to enhance the human capabilities of touch with a robotic sensor glove. The glove will take the potential of a diagnosis-altering physical exam, and put it into the hands of patients.
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Three products are under development:
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Glove Tricorder
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This glove will eventually allow patients to diagnosis their own illnesses. The glove interface allows for data from the physical exam to be a component of automated diagnosis, which at times can mean the difference between a patient living and dying. Our Glove Tricorder includes many sensors (accelerometers, temperature, force, sound, and vibration) and a data protocol that allows the data to be transferred wirelessly. Soon everyone will have a glove that can be used to assess a sports injury or can be used to do self-clinical breast exams. In the future we will be able to augment a human's ability to diagnosis illness, by adding sensors such as ultrasound probes that will be able to integrate the data and provide real-time assessment of heart valve abnormalities, abdominal pain, and much more without having to go to medical facility.
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Medical Education Glove
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Allows medical students and medical doctors to improve physical examination skills by quantifying touch.
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Robotic Breast Exam
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Automation of the breast exam will allow for detection of breast cancer without physicians. The improvement of robotic technology will allow for a painless and complete breast exam that will eventually be good enough to catch breast cancer that some X-Rays miss. This will save millions of lives world-wide.
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