Dental robot flinches just like a real patient

July 13, 2011
Roboticists at Japan's Showa University say they have perfected their life-like dental training robot to such an degree they now feel she is ready to be let loose on her first dental students.

Roboticists at Japan's Showa University say they have perfected their life-like dental training robot to such an degree they now feel she is ready to be let loose on her first dental students.

Revealed at a recent press conference in Japan, "Showa Hanako 2" is a medical automaton capable of sneezing, head shaking, coughing, mimicking gagging, and will even close her mouth like a real patient when feeling that telltale jaw ache associated with the dentist reaching inside your mouth. With voice recognition technology the trainee dentist can even carry out a rudimentary conversation with the robot.

Click here to read the article and see a video from NewScientist.com.