Innovative Robotics Uses AI to Help Medical Students Develop Diagnoses and Communicate with Patients
Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University's newest and most technologically advanced high-fidelity Manikin has Artificial Intelligence-enhanced speech to communicate to medical students as patients.
FORT WORTH – Many are familiar with the Manikins used for CPR training, but what would happen if those robots could move and talk?
At the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, medical students are learning with the newest innovations in robotics that can move and talk back. Meet HAL® S5301. Developed by Gaumard® Simulators for Health Care Education, the newest high-fidelity Manikin uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can simulate lifelike symptoms of a neurological emergency.
“We can program HAL® with a case and it can pull knowledge from a generative communication AI background on the web and create real-time responses to any questions the students may ask him during a training session,” Adam Jennings, D.O., Executive Director of Simulation, Innovation, and Research at Burnett School of Medicine at TCU.
HAL® can also be programmed to speak different languages and respond in one primary language or multiple languages. This allows students to work on some of the communication skills that might involve language barriers in a safe environment, Dr. Jennings said.
AI extends to HAL’s® physiology as well. His active motor function allows it to have reflexes in its right arm. It can shake hands, squeeze hands, raise its arm, use the arm for a withdrawal response, and have abnormal posturing. The head and eyes can also turn toward the speakers and make facial expressions.
“This gives our students a great opportunity in a safe space to do neurological testing and we can see how they respond when the Manikin lets them know they are doing things it doesn’t like,” Dr. Jennings said.
HAL® uses patient monitoring devices and mechanical ventilators so students can also learn medical procedures such as chest tube thoracostomy, surgical airway management, abdominal wound bleeding, CPR, blood glucose testing, and more.
“This is really the next level of medical education where artificial intelligence really gets students prepared to go into hospital environments with confidence,” Dr. Jennings said.