A rathe eerie-looking medical robot has been created to teach medical students how to treat children, both from a medical and emotional point of view.
Called Hal, medical training company Gaumard Scientific has developed the robot as a five year old patient. He can answer questions such as how bad he’s feeling, track movements with his eyes, call for his parents wet himself and respond to pain.
His pupils will react to light and show abnormal movement if set to demonstrate a certain medical condition and his stomach, heart and lungs make noises that are only identifiable with a stethoscope too. He can even bleed and allow for glucose testing with fake blood.
Hal can also show symptoms of various medical conditions, including heart problems, with real medical equipment used to assess him, making it extremely useful tool for doctors and other medical staff that need to understand how to identify and treat infants.
All of his reactions are pretty spot-on for a five-year old. His face “muscles” can show a range of emotion, such as fear, sadness and pain, helping doctors use body language as well as aural responses to make their assessment.
Not only is a doctor’s bedside manner tested, but so is his or her’s medical expertise. They can practice inserting tracheal tubes into a child’s throat, use a defibrillator, insert needles and check Hal’s stats.
“I’ve seen several nurses be like, ‘Whoa it moves!’” Marc Berg, medical director at the Revive Initiative for Resuscitation Excellence at Stanford said. “I think that’s kind of similar to the idea that if you’ve driven a car for 20 years and then you got a brand new car, you’re kind of amazed initially.”
It’s no wonder Gaumard Scientific describes Hal as “The World’s Most Advanced Pediatric Patient Simulator.”