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Virginia Tech

Towards a Human-like Robot for Medical Simulation

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Medical mannequins provide the first hands-on training for nurses and doctors and help eliminate human mistakes that would otherwise take place with a real person. The closer the mannequin is to mimicking a human being, the more effective the training; thus, additional features such as movable limbs and eyes, vision processing and realistic social interaction will provide a more fulfilling learning experience. A humanoid robot with a 23 degree of freedom (DOF) hand was developed which is capable of performing complex dexterous tasks such as typing on a keyboard. A single DOF elbow and two DOF shoulder was designed and optimized to maintain human form while being able to dynamically lift common household items. A 6 DOF neck and 13 DOF face with a highly expressive silicone skin-motor arrangement has been developed. The face is capable of talking and making several expressions and is used to train the student to pick up on emotional cues such as eye contact and body language during the interview stage. A pair of 3 DOF legs and a torso were also developed which allows the humanoid to be in either the laying down or sitting up position. An algorithm was developed that only activates necessary areas of code in order to increase its cycle time which greatly increases the vision tracking capabilities of the eyes. The simulator was tested at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke VA with several of the medical staff and their feedback is provided in this document.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Mechanical Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Mechanical Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2011

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Thayer, Nicholas D.
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Priya, Shashank
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Inman, Daniel J.
  • Hong, Dennis W.

Subjects

dc:subject × 4

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-09162011-233051
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/35077

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Thayer, Nicholas D.. Towards a Human-like Robot for Medical Simulation. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/35077