Named "Alter-Ego", the 1.2-metre tall robot can stand in for a doctor working remotely, bring a patient a bottle of water or guide them to treatment.Daniel Senna, a 31-year-old patient at the Maugeri Hospital, transmits his pain level on a screen attached to the robot's chest."Hi Dani. How are you? Do you need anything?" Ego asks wheelchair-bound Senna, as the data collected is sent instantly to the ward's nurses.The robot has been undergoing testing since April in a department which treats people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease."At first, we were afraid the patient might have a negative reaction," Christian Lunetta, director of the hospital's neuromotor rehabilitation department, told AFP.But they soon were "very satisfied, because the robot was designed to spark curiosity and its movements, or at least its functions, suggest a wide range of potential uses".Ease burdenThe project is a collaboration between the Italian Institute of Technology and the University of Pisa in northern Italy and is currently being remotely controlled by an operator.
Alter-Ego enables patient Daniel Senna to transmit medical information remotely to nurses © MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP
