French Robot Gives Birth

Posted 19 May 2008 at 19:20 UTC by steve

Well, not exactly. French obstetricians have developed a robotic child birth simulator to assist in teaching medical students the difficult technique of using forceps safely and correctly. The robot, called BirthSIM, "is a life-size model of a mother's pelvis, with a baby's head hidden inside mounted on a pneumatic arm. During the simulation, the pneumatic arm pushes the baby's head forward, mimicking the movements of childbirth". The baby's head contains electromagnetic sensors that track motion in 3D. There are also sensors to record the amount of pressure being applied to the head. The researchers suggest that standardizing the birth simulator and techniques could lead to "an objective approach to measuring and maintaining skills, just as aircraft simulators do.". The researchers will present their upcoming paper on BirthSIM at the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society's ICRA 2008 conference.