This one appeared today ie. 17th April 2006 in Mumbai Mirror.

We have been hearing & reading about robots but it is now that the world has started using robots increasing in non-industrial settings.

Birth of a robot

Medical institutes around the world are opting for robots to teach students, rather than using a real patient, there by lowering the risk of serious mistakes
PAUL ELIAS
Noelle’s given birth in Afghanistan, California and dozens of points in between. She’s a lifelike, pregnant robot used in increasing numbers of medical schools and hospital maternity wards. The full-sized, blond, pale mannequin is in demand because medicine is rapidly abandoning centuries-old training methods that use patients as guinea pigs, turning instead to high-tech simulations. It’s better to make a mistake on a $20,000 (Rs 9,00,400 approx) robot than a live patient. “We’re trying to engineer out some of the errors,” said Dr Paul Preston, an anaesthesiologist at Kaiser Permanente and architect of the hospital chain’s 4-year-old pregnancy-care training program, in which Noelle plays a starring role. “We steal shamelessly from everybody and everywhere that has good training programs.” Noelle is manufactured by Gaumard Scientific Co, other companies make lifelike mannequins to train paramedics in emergencies too. But Noelle appears to be the only high-tech, pregnant model available.

Noelle models range from a $3,200 (Rs 1,44,064 approx) basic version to a $20,000 (Rs 9,00,400 approx) computerised Noelle that best approximates a live birth. She can be programmed for a variety of complications and for cervix dilation. She can labour for hours and produce a breach baby or unexpectedly give birth in a matter of minutes. She ultimately delivers a plastic doll that can change colours, from a healthy pink glow to the deadly blue of oxygen deficiency. The baby mannequin is wired to flash vital signs when hooked up to monitors. The computerised mannequins emit realistic pulse rates and can urinate and breathe. “If she is bleeding, there will be ample blood in evidence everywhere,” Preston said one ra