Official News page 7

REAL LIFE NEWS: ROBOTS TAKE OVER HOSPITAL

by Hazed

The rise of the robots continues, with yet more humans being supplanted by mechanical beings. A hospital in Scotland is set to become the first in the UK to use robots to clean, deliver food and dispense drugs.

The idea is that it is important to separate "clean" tasks from "dirty" tasks - for example, you don't want somebody dealing with rubbish and then handling food. So the robots that carry clinical waste will have their own routes around the hospital, separate from the robots having contact with food or drugs.

The bots will use their own dedicated network of corridors beneath the hospital. Staff will summon their metal minions using hand-held PDAs and instruct them to move meal trays or bed linen.

A reporter who has seen the robots in action in the Forth Valley Royal Hospital says they look like "a forklift truck with a rotating laser beam, which it uses to find its way around." You can read more about the hospital droids, and watch a video, here.

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