Your Next Nurse Could Be a Robot

An international team of researchers has trained a robot to imitate natural human actions, in the hope that humans and robots can coordinate their actions during critical events such as surgeries. Researchers from Italy's Polytechnic University of Milan led an international team that trained a robot to imitate natural human actions. The work demonstrates humans and robots can effectively coordinate their actions during high-stakes events such as surgeries. Over time, the research could lead to improvements in safety during medical procedures because robots do not tire and can complete an endless series of precise movements. Robotic co-workers "will just allow us to decrease workload and achieve better performances in several tasks, from medicine to industrial applications," says Polytechnic University of Milan's Elena De Momi.