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June 07, 2007, 11:08 AM ET
New Faculty Hire: Robot Nurse
Rolling down the hallways of the Nursing Institute of West Central Ohio, looking somewhat like a vacuum cleaner with a flat-panel monitor for a head, a robot called RP-7 joined the faculty yesterday.
Professors are getting sparse at the nursing institute, just as they are at nursing schools across the country. Experienced nurses with teaching credentials are getting older and retiring, and with a nursing shortage in general, no one is moving up to replace them.
RP-7 is the solution at the Ohio institute, which is headquartered at Wright State University. The machine is actually a tool for faculty retention, not replacement. A nursing professor at the far end of an Internet connection controls the robot from a laptop. Debi Sampsel, the institute's executive director, says the setup allows faculty members to teach from home while seeing, hearing, talkiing, and moving with students. Professors can semi-retire, move elsewhere, or go on vacation and still "be there" to teach. --Josh Fischman
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