Portable telemedicine equipment clearly has great benefits in many situations, but does it have to be dressed up as a self-propelled robot?
That was my principal reaction after watching the video on the OffSite Care Inc. The video is a valiant but, to me, frustrating attempt to demonstrate these benefits. There are 9 minutes of testimonials about how good the system is before we get to see it in action, and then it seemed to be little more than a videoconferencing link. In my opinion, this particular video needs some tighter editing and some extra material that a) shows the experience of using it from the patient’s perspective and b) shows its superiority to a system that could be put, for presumably much lower cost, on a push-along trolley. View the 15½ minute video and judge for yourself.
On second thoughts, maybe I’m being too hard on OffSite Care, which is obviously working hard to make the world a better place. Perhaps it is the job of the robot manufacturer to make the above case. Sharp-eyed Telecare Aware readers may remember that this particular robot was featured in another story, on June 25. Search the site for ‘robot’ to find it.