Robot Roundup

Gienna Shaw, for HealthLeaders Media, June 28, 2011

Medical Breakthroughs That Will Change Healthcare: OK, so this cover story from the March, 2010 issue of HealthLeaders magazine isn't all about robots—but it does describe more possible uses for telemedicine, wireless devices, "smart" OR suites, and other futuristic healthcare technologies, such as a pill box that reminds you when to take your medicine and reports back to your doctor or family members when you don't.

So if the story isn't technically about healthcare robots, why am I including it? Because I got the phrases "silver lamé," "moving sidewalks," and "flying cars" in the first sentence. Even better, I put off writing the phrase "screw malposition rates" until I was six paragraphs into the story.  

One last note about Obama's speech at CMU. He may not have talked a lot about healthcare, but he did deliver this gem: "You might not know this, but one of my responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief is to keep an eye on robots.  (Laughter.)  And I'm pleased to report that the robots you manufacture here seem peaceful -- (laughter) -- at least for now."

That's taken word-for-word from the official White House transcript—including the parenthetical asides. You know, just in case anyone reading the transcript wasn't sure whether or not he was joking. I guess the President can't include smiley emoticons or LOLs in his speeches.

If he did, the robots might not like it.