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May 18, 12:31 PM (ET)

LONDON (Reuters) - Science-fiction moved a step closer to reality Wednesday when robots nicknamed "Sister Mary" and "Doctor Robbie" started work at a London hospital.

The pair allow doctors to visually examine and communicate with patients, whether they are in another part of the hospital or even another part of the world.

"This is a revolutionary concept which opens new avenues in telemedicine research and integrates technology with healthcare," said Professor Sir Ara Darzi in a statement.

Darzi, head of surgery, anesthetics and intensive care at London's prestigious Imperial College is also a practicing surgeon at St Mary's hospital in Paddington, west London.

The 5-foot (1.5 meter) high robots are controlled remotely by a doctor via a joystick.

Doctors can look at patients thanks to a camera mounted on top of the robot while patients can see their doctors via a screen on the robots' "face."

Patients can be asked questions and medical records -- such as X-rays and test results -- can be read.

As part of a pilot study, patients will be assessed as to how they respond to the robots' metallic ministrations.

I just don’t know how much I would like having a robot standing in front of me at the hospital with the doctors face on a screen. There is just something about have the actually doctor standing there that would make me far more comfortable.

Absolutely outrageous and stupid. Physicians need face to face time with patients.
Taking a history & physical and other asessments can't be done over a monitor.
Even the patient asking questions this way is a bad idea. I bet you that some lazy ass physician was the one who came up with this idea.

Gidan wrote:I just don’t know how much I would like having a robot standing in front of me at the hospital with the doctors face on a screen. There is just something about have the actually doctor standing there that would make me far more comfortable.

How about having a robot doctor giving you the Vasectomy? I dont know if I like cold metal hands down there talk about weet shinkage. And another point...what happens if Doctor Joystick sneezes? Robot frank cuts your dick off and faxes it to your wife all inside of 1 minute.