Robot Patient Feels Dental Pain

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THE WASHINGTON POST

The figure in the dentist’s chair can say “ouch,” and her eyes may flash in pain. But trust us, she’s not feeling a thing. She’s an animated robot with a high-tech set of pearly whites. Students and resident doctors are currently testing the robot, dubbed Simroid, at Tokyo’s Nippon Dental University.

Naotake Shibui, a professor, and Kokoro, a Japanese robotics firm, spent more than two years developing Simroid. The robot moves realistically and has lifelike silicon skin and teeth equipped with sensors that can detect mistakes that might cause a real patient dental pain.

Until recently “dental education put emphasis on the technique of a dentist, like how well can he carve and drill,” Shibui said during an interview in Japanese that was later translated. “But we have to think about the feelings of the patients… Simroid allows you to train to do that.”

Shibui expects the price tag for Simroid to be 10 million yen (about $98,000).