you got a point there actually, i can see them as humanoid nurses or even doctors, also thats very true that that can be big but like Baymax big not monolith thats consuming your soul through the needle big

I imagine the first one rolling around like a Dalek screeching IN-NOC-U-LATE! IN-NOC-U-LATE!

Agreed. During the time I was recently in the Hospital I gave some thought to Medical Robots and how they might work. I like your idea of less frightening looking "Animal-droids" that might appeal to children and perhaps the elderly. (For example, a cat or small dog sized robot that could curl up on or near the patient and take diagnostics without the inconvenience of physical wires being hooked to terminals adhered to the patient's skin.) The "Critter" could also "Talk" to the patient, and alert the Nurses if need be.

I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw the "1960's Jetsons-esque" medical robot though. The exposed reel to reel tape drive just screams, "Antiquated!"

I would love to have a robot sheep as pretty as Mercie be my doctor/nurse! I feel much better from just seeing her around!

what about the uncanny effect?

also, hypodermic jets? is that what i think it is?

Uncanny Valley, firstly that's why you make it like a cartoon animal, to dodge that effect.

Secondly, and more importantly, the uncanny valley is a gross oversimplification of a lot of complex issues crashing into each other.

Functionally the valley doesn't really exist.

well that's why i'm not talking of a valley but effect.

If you think hypodermic jets are a method of injecting medicine into the bloodstream by first atomizing it & then blasting it through the skin with pressurized air then it’s exactly what you think.

It’s actually a real thing that’s been around since the 50s. It saw use in mass inoculation efforts because it could administer a vaccine faster, could be sterilized between patients easier, & had a lower chance of infection for the patient than needles, since the dermis is never actually punctured. The bits of medicine literally get rammed through the spaces in between skin cells. This was before disposable syringes too so the sterilizing thing was huge.

The issue was it was actually found to be more painful than a needle & the wound it left took longer to heal so it hasn’t been used en mass since. It still has niche medical applications but it’s biggest legacy was inspiring the hyposprays in Star Trek TOS.

yeah no wonder that would hurt and take longer to heal.
having particules weave or tear there way in may leave a smaller gap, i think it'll cause more damage.
but what if we spread the area of application? could it be done?

So I did some looking into it & I’ve completely misunderstood it works. Hypodermic jet injections don’t actually atomize the medicine like I assumed, instead it’s a pressurized jet stream that punctures the stratum corneum to inject medicine into the epidermis or dermis, not through. It’s basically a normal intramuscular injection where the medicine itself acts as a needle.

This also better explains why they weren’t adopted heavily. Because they are penetrating the surface of the skin there is the possibility for splashback (the pressurized stream ricocheting back onto the nozzle), fluid suck back (blood on the nozzle being sucked back into the machine, contaminanting the next dose), & retrograde flow (which is like splashback but instead of the stream ricocheting it’s the pressure differential created that sucks biological matter back into the machine). All of which are major sanitary issues you can avoid by just using a disposable syringe instead.

Nothing is being atomized or ‘rammed between skin cells’, that was pure speculation on my part. sorry!

I haven’t found much about what would make them more painful than a needle but I think you’re right about the particles weaving & tearing their way through the skin. Even in a pressurized jet, turbulences in the flow as it goes through the tissue would make that stream less precise & so it would leave a rougher hole compared to a needle.

I don’t think spreading out the area of application would help an actual jet injector because that would likely mean just leaving a bigger hole in the stratum.

As for whatever nonsense application method I came up with; If there were a way to shove atomized medicine through the stratum & the dermis I’d imagine it’d be far more painful than either a jet or a syringe. Imagine like an aerosol can but the spray is going into your arm! I don’t think there’d be any way of making that less awful beyond sedating the patient beforehand.

Again, sorry for the misinformation!

isnt this basically the baymax philosophy?

good point

I mean, I am easily bribed with lollipops...

Right is more insidious if you think about it. Raising a generation to believe robots are truly alive and the same as us? That would inflict lasting damage on millions.

but they are alive.
depending on your definition of alive...

Cute idea, though the idea of robots being lifelike enough to show empathy still seems a little out of reach looking at today's technology.

Unless you live in the Futurama universe of course

Siiiiii claroooooo pendejo pa' no asustar a los niñosssss 😏

Someone says that this is how you get FNAF in a hospital. But I'm willing to believe that this won't happen in the long run.

You're not wrong. That IS an attractive, reassuring design.