Japanese Vampire Robots Want Your Blood

[Pat Logsdon]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/automatic-blood-donation-booth-017443.php' target='_blank'>http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/aut...ooth-017443.php</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/logsdon_20040709_bloodrobot.jpg" /> <br /><br />While the headline is slightly sensationalistic, it's really not that far off the mark. A Japanese company has announced an automated booth that <i>extracts blood from your body.</i> I have several problems with this. First of all, how exactly does it know where to stick the needle? As far as I know, everyone's veins are different. Personally, I do not want a robot playing "Find the Vein" on my arm with something pointy. <br /><br />As scary as that is, the thing that bothers me the most about this device is the possibility of a software crash in the middle of the "Blood Extraction Sub-Routine". I can see it now: my marble-white cold body slumped in the booth, one arm clamped inside the machine, the other wrapped around my Pocket PC (displaying a <a href="http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/health-info/docs/3400/3450.asp?index=11621&amp;src=news">web page</a> on how much blood the human body holds), my face lit eerily from below by the pale blue light of the screen, which reads "Fatal Exception Error". :mrgreen:

[dmacburry2003]

I wonder, where exactly do you stick your arm??? 8O

And why is there not a seat in there? You should at least get to be comfortable while you are examined with fish hooks and sucky tubes :lol:

[Kati Compton]

No more need for nurses! All your medical needs filled automatically! Just be careful when the Nurse-o-matic takes your temperature...

[felixdd]

I'm more concerned about the cleanliness of the apparatus use. How does the machine ensure sterilization? I don't think that's possible for a machine that's designed to be on the field for a prolonged period of time....

[Simon Crow]

I wonder what conceivable relevance this article has, to be on Pocket PC Thoughts?

[dh]

I wonder what conceivable relevance this article has, to be on Pocket PC Thoughts?
Because we have a forum called "OFF TOPIC"?

[dmacburry2003]

I'm more concerned about the cleanliness of the apparatus use. How does the machine ensure sterilization? I don't think that's possible for a machine that's designed to be on the field for a prolonged period of time....


It's like giving blood to a machine in a porta-potty :roll:

[outdoor]

lol probably they make you sit down in a toilet like seat, and they poke you from......... the bottom :devilboy: oh wait that's for injection only hehe

[Janak Parekh]

I wonder what conceivable relevance this article has, to be on Pocket PC Thoughts?
It's a little tradition here that we tend to do various off-topic things on Friday nights. ;)

--janak

[Zab]

No more need for nurses! All your medical needs filled automatically! Just be careful when the Nurse-o-matic takes your temperature...

In the air force the nurses dont do crap :wink:

The Med Techs/EMTs do all the dirty work. And as a person who draws a crapload of blood every day ( i draw on over 30 patients per day ) there is NO WAY IN HELL this machine would ever come within 5 miles of me

[David Prahl]

Sounds a lot like MSN's iLoo fiasco a few months ago. (search here at PPCT if you don't know what I mean) Probably just as likely to happen, too!

"Error reading device HUMAN_ARM_0 @ 0x00567839a."

"You have unplugged or ejected an arm without stopping it. Unplugging or ejecting limbs without first stopping them can often cause your heart to stop and organs to be donated."

"Please wait while Windows searches for any Plug and Spray devices."

"Please insert the disc labled 'Windows 98 CD-ROM' to continue donating blood."

"The file 'syringe.dll' is bad or missing. Please contact your Network Administrator."

"Your heart needs to stop. We are sorry for the inconvienience. Click here to send a death report. We treat this report as confidential and anonymous."


:mrgreen:

[kosmicki]

NO WAY IN HELL this machine would ever come within 5 miles of me

Aww, are you sure? :wink:

[kosmicki]

Thought of something while in the shower, the people of Japan are now becoming vending machines themselves! 8O


And what if the pump started to run backwards?! :microwave:

(I know I know... but I wanted an excuse to use the micrwave one. :mrgreen: )

[Weyoun6]

I know exactly where my vein is, so it would not be a problem for me.

[Zab]

NO WAY IN HELL this machine would ever come within 5 miles of me

Aww, are you sure? :wink:

positive, id have to set fire to it just to keep you all safe 8)

[Simon Crow]

I wonder what conceivable relevance this article has, to be on Pocket PC Thoughts?
It's a little tradition here that we tend to do various off-topic things on Friday nights. ;)

--janak

Yep. I understand that, of ocurse. But this is a particularly gruesome item!! But perhaps that is why it appeals?

[David Johnston]

Hope there's a blood bucket...

[CME2C]

Although if you think about it , who/what would you rather draw the blood a machine, or someone who didn't even graduate from high school. There is no degree required to be a phlebotomist. I would trust the machine to be sterile more than the human if it was designed right.

[Kati Compton]

Although if you think about it , who/what would you rather draw the blood a machine, or someone who didn't even graduate from high school. There is no degree required to be a phlebotomist. I would trust the machine to be sterile more than the human if it was designed right.
There is training required, and some sort of certification/test requirement most likely. So, I wouldn't get my blood taken at Larry's Tire and Blood Shop, but at a reputable hospital/doctor's office, I trust the phlebotomist. Much more than a machine - I just don't think technology has advanced to the point where the machine can use intution, and can properly detect the location, consistency, and chance of rolling of a vein.

[kosmicki]

Just give VeinFinder a chance to get to 1.0 you have to expect a few jabs and pokes from v0.2....

[BaKsHi]

what's scary is that insurance companies may require these in the future to save costs on accidental human jabbery.

[bjornkeizers]

Slightly OT:

I once had a chat with someone who was a medic in the army. He didn't have any medical background, but apparently the army needed some vampires so after basic training they assigned him to the army's bloodbank. When he was drawing blood, he wore a white lab coat, and the soldiers would always ask him 'did you study?' or something along those lines. The answer was yes, he'd gone to school and so the soldiers would happily let him stick them. When they staggered outside after donating a pint or two, he would tell them 'Not bad eh? For someone who studied business economics!'

Moral of this story; don't trust someone even if they do wear a white coat :D

[Zab]

Although if you think about it , who/what would you rather draw the blood a machine, or someone who didn't even graduate from high school. There is no degree required to be a phlebotomist. I would trust the machine to be sterile more than the human if it was designed right.
There is training required, and some sort of certification/test requirement most likely. So, I wouldn't get my blood taken at Larry's Tire and Blood Shop, but at a reputable hospital/doctor's office, I trust the phlebotomist. Much more than a machine - I just don't think technology has advanced to the point where the machine can use intution, and can properly detect the location, consistency, and chance of rolling of a vein.

to become a registered phlebotomist you have to have atleast 100 documented sticks. i know in the military they give good training. i wasnt allowed to stick anybody until i had watched 5, practiced numerous hours, then practiced on somebody with good veins, moving slowly to the folks with crappy veins. i learned how to stick kids before adults. kids are way harder than adults...after the training i know the techs recieve that i work with id trust any of them before id trust a machine no matter how smart the AI.

[Janak Parekh]

Yep. I understand that, of ocurse. But this is a particularly gruesome item!! But perhaps that is why it appeals?
Yeah, Pat and I talked about that. This was a kind of borderline case, and we decided to play it by ear... if the responses got nasty or if people were too grossed out, we'd kill the thread. I'm glad the thread has stayed rational and informative. :)

--janak

[DavidHorn]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1205722.stm

Already been invented, and was tested live. I watched it, looked painful!

In The Andromada Strain, the automatic needle machine uses infra-red to locate a vein. I guess that would work too.

[beq]

Hahaha thanks for all the great laughs reading this thread :D

Personally, I do not want a robot playing "Find the Vein" on my arm with something pointy.
Now that reminds me of a great Futurama episode where Fry's locked up in the loony bin for robots (with a crazy bot jabbing a knife)...

[rocky_raher]

...after donating a pint or two, ...

"Or two???" Any authoritive source may feel free to correct me, but my understanding that blood donors could only donate one pint every 56 days. Or were you taking poetic license?

[bjornkeizers]

Poetic license :-) Yes, you can donate a pint (450 ml) every 56 days, but there's a wide safety margin so they could probably take a *bit* more. IIRC, the average adult has around 4.7 liters of blood (1/11th their body weight)

[jgrnt1]

I could see this having multiple uses:

- "and have your passport photos taken while you wait...."

- Add a shower head and the Olympics could draw blood for drug testing right after an event.

- Add a toilet seat and you could multitask.

- Make it a free WiFi hot spot and there would be a line of geeks waiting to donate blood, or add a keyboard and monitor with an internet connection and we again would all line up.

[tanalasta]

- Make it a free WiFi hot spot and there would be a line of geeks waiting to donate blood, or add a keyboard and monitor with an internet connection and we again would all line up.

You know, if they did that at my local blood bank, I'd go more often. Despite the massive needle they use. :mrgreen: Even though it only takes 10 minutes... I can check my email and run through these forums in that time!

[Janak Parekh]

You know, if they did that at my local blood bank, I'd go more often. Despite the massive needle they use. :mrgreen: Even though it only takes 10 minutes... I can check my email and run through these forums in that time!
While you're waiting in line, or while you're actually being drawn? 8O What are you going to do, one-hand the forums? :lol:

--janak

[StarkAZ75]

Feed me, Seymour!

[Phoenix]

Alright, this is just nasty.

What are these people thinking?!? :crazyeyes:

I make no apology, there has to be a human factor in this equation.

No machine will ever poke my veins unless there's a human behind it.

Sticking your arm into a machine where you can't see what's happening? Good grief, it's like the movie Dune - "...put your hand in the box. DO IT !"

[MOrtenstein]

Why is everybody afraid that machine will not find your vein??

Actually the article said "A Japanese company has announced an automated booth that extracts blood from your body.". There was no word about "by sticking whatsover into your vein" and they didn't say you will leave the machine alive! :worried:

I guess once you enter and put in a quarter for game the side-door will close and the little black door in front of you gives access to some hardcore stuff :drinking:

2 Minutes later you then will be shot by 2 or 3 pumpguns (see the bullet proof rear wall!!) and the draining process will begin right away. Did you realize the way the floor is designed?! After 10 or 15 minutes the human remains will be safley transported to the nearest organ donor office

:lilangel:

Now that's a machine, huh :mrgreen: :devilboy:

[ultimate_ed]

Either that or the evil priest in The Mummy Returns sticking his arm into that hole.

Man, I'm a regular visitor to the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, doing platelets with my A+ blood type. Even those men and women who do this for a living sometimes have issues. I can't see a robot having a chance at getting a good stick.

And what about hygiene? Whenever you make a donation, all the tubing, needles, bags, etc are disposed of after they're done with you. Half the work the human staff does is cleaning up after a donation and setting up for the next one. In the machine going to handle all that change out on it's own?

And, lets face it, the American Legal system would be all over that bad boy if it ever landed on the American countryside.

[edisondolby]

So the Japanese are making automated Population Control control boothes now.

I read this article and had visions of Dune, Soilent Green and Slaughter House Five. There is no way I would allow this machine to draw my blood.
I don't even like to have people do it.

Anyone know the lyrics to Gary numans "Down in the Park"? I suppose that is next.

8O &lt;- Me after reading about this machine

[Kati Compton]

Man, I'm a regular visitor to the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, doing platelets with my A+ blood type.
Oh, are you *bragging* about your A+? Nerd! Some of us aren't quite as smart and have only gotten an A-. You're making the B's feel bad. Teacher's Pet!



Hmm... Is it 'O' for "Outstanding"? ;)

[Kacey Green]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1205722.stm

Already been invented, and was tested live. I watched it, looked painful!

In The Andromada Strain, the automatic needle machine uses infra-red to locate a vein. I guess that would work too.

If using an infared heat detection device, how do we know it wouldn't stick the PPC's batt or Proc. ?

[Zab]

Why is everybody afraid that machine will not find your vein??

Actually the article said "A Japanese company has announced an automated booth that extracts blood from your body.". There was no word about "by sticking whatsover into your vein" and they didn't say you will leave the machine alive! :worried:


and where are they going to get the blood if not in a vein? get it from an artery?! :wink:

Blood just isnt floating freely in your body :D

said it before and ill say it again...no way in hell

[Jonathon Watkins]

Pat, I just love your photoshopping of "Feed me, puny human" onto the machine! :lol:

[rave]

I think the article is fake. I live here in Japan and I haven't seen such atrocities. True that the Japanese Red Cross solicits blood donations, but they do it using traditional manned setups. Though the Japanese are known for wild innovations, they are more well-known for safety and highly calculated moves and decisions. This type of gadget won't even make it beyond the brainstorming booth, I think.

Frankly speaking, the "Technovelgy" site that the article links to, and the "Gami" link after that, is plain bull. I haven't seen any of these things during my stay here, and I doubt I ever will (unmanned taxi? oh please). Sure Japan is high tech, but it's not as high tech as some people apparently fantasize it to be.

[rave]

http://ten.web.infoseek.co.jp/gami/

Here you go. Half is real, half is not. If it sounds stupid, it's probably not real. :D

[RenesisX]

I'm guessing from the writing on the side that it just tells you what blood group you are.

The Japanese are fascinated by each other's blood groups and use this like we in the West use signs of the zodiac to determine romantic compatability.