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iRobot Teams With InTouch Health To Roboticize Housecalls Usisng Telepresence

Part of the idea of the partnership, to judge from Angle’s statements, is simply to make telemedicine bots more user-friendly.

Currently, the real technophiles among physicians’ ranks may use InTouch Health’s current robot. “But more sophisticated technology would make these robots easier to use by a broader class of physicians,” Angle told InformationWeek, “not just the technological enthusiasts.”

Healthcare robotics is rapidly becoming a crowded field—Toyota showed off some if its robotic nurses recently, and robotic exoskeletons are restoring mobility to the paralyzed—but with iRobot’s track record and name brand, combined with InTouch’s experience already doing Grand Rounds, the two have an early-mover advantage.

Indeed, Angle already seems so certain of the new venture’s success in the hospital that he appears to be looking into the next, related, and potentially much larger market: home-care. “If we have proven technologies that work in a hospital setting, we’ll be looking at a cost-reduction exercise to translate that experience to the home,” he said.

In the not-too-distant future, medical telepresence robots may not just be a staple in hospitals, but in the homes of the ailing and elderly, too. All of which points to another instance in which new technology enables a throwback: With telepresence bots in the home, maybe we’ll see a resurgence (and modification) of an almost extinct medical practice—call it the robotic house call.

(via iRobot Goes to the Hospital - Technology Review)