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Daily Video: Japanese Dental Training Robot Profiled
posted on by Andrew Osmond
The YouTube channel for the DigInfo TV news website has posted a video profiling "Showa Hanako 2," an android for use in dental training from Showa University in Tokyo. Showa Hanako 2 has a silicone skin and mouth lining supplied by Orient Industry, described in the video as "a maker of love dolls." Professor Koutaro Maki of Showa University said in the video that the robot needs to be realistic because, he noted, "how doctors and students actually feel in the presence of a patient is a really big factor."
Showa Hanako 2 can blink, roll its eyes, sneeze, shake its head, "choke" (to simulate the gag reflex), and move its tongue. It also can speak and uses speech recognition technology. Maki also said it "can recognize a variety of words and can accumulate a vocabulary." The robot will be sold by the dental supply company Yoshida Dental Manufacturing.
[Via Japan Probe]
