'Enchanted objects'? And don't forget the robots

Donna Cusano

Wide ranging blogpost from Susannah Fox on e-Patients.net (Society for Participatory Medicine) combines ’emotional automation’ (Dr. Joseph Kvedar video from Connected Health Symposium) and ‘enchanted objects’ (David Rose of Vitality GlowCaps at Mayo Transform 2010).  Summarizing a 19:34 video is tough but here’s Susannah: ‘Smartphone health apps won’t be used daily. Self-report fails. Texting programs annoy. Enchanted objects will have the most impact.’  (Especially if they play arpeggios–make mine Coleman Hawkins’ ‘Body and Soul’, thank you.)  The future of health. Oh yes…robots…follow down to the first comment on another research project in Connecticut using the NAO robots from Alderbaran that Ed. Steve writes about below.  Boston Globe, A robot exhibits bedside manners–and ethics. Scroll down further to catch commenter John Grohal’s view from 2030 (fantasy? nightmare?)–multiple devices telling you what to do, unintegrated and downright annoying.