Senators learn about robotics, artificial intelligence in the health-care system
Senators went back to school to learn how robots are used in the medical field. Members of the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology visited the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital on a fact-finding mission Monday, May 15 as part of their study of the role of robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D printing in the health-care system.
University of Ottawa Fact-Finding Mission
Wojtek Michalowski, a health informatics professor, and Ian Kerr, the Canada Research chair in Ethics, Law and Technology described how AI gives physicians new ways to treat patients. They discussed the ethical issues surrounding the delegating of medical decision-making to machines and the concept of attributing human-like qualities to robots.
Senator René Cormier, seated, waits while a robot renders a 3D model of him.Engineering faculty members demonstrated their haptics for medical training. Haptics is an AI term that refers to replicating the sensation of touch in electronic devices. They’re using it to better understand surgeries by reproducing the feedback between surgical tools and human tissues.
Senator Kelvin Kenneth Ogilvie tries a haptics device, a robotic tool used to help stroke patients re-learn how to write.The senators’ second stop was at the Faculty of Engineering’s Bioln Robotics Lab at the University of Ottawa, where researchers are working on improving how a new generation of humanoid robots will interact with humans.Professor Emil M. Petriu introduced senators to an orange robot named Pumpkin while research assistant Miriam Goubran demonstrated a human-like multi-fingered robot hand that is capable of sensing a person’s touch and manipulating objects.
Research assistant Miriam Goubran demonstrates a prosthetic glove in the Bioln Robotics Lab.
From left, Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen, Senator René Cormier, Senator Art Eggleton and Senator Marie-Françoise Mégie interact with Pumpkin, the robot, in the Bioln Robotics Lab.
Ottawa Hospital Fact-Finding Mission
Next, committee members went to the Ottawa Hospital, home of Canada’s first hospital-based, medical 3D printing program.
Dr. Adnan Sheikh, medical director of the 3D printing program, Leonid Chepelev, radiology resident physician, Dr. Paul E. Beaulé and Dr. Frank J. Rybicki explained how 3D printing’s high degree of precision can be tailored to match each patient’s unique anatomy.
From left, senators René Cormier, Marie-Françoise Mégie and Art Eggleton learn about 3D printed prosthetics from Leonid Chepelev, radiology resident physician at the Ottawa Hospital.Dr. Jack Kitts, Ottawa Hospital President and CEO, said he was reminded of a conversation he had with Senator Ogilvie a few years ago, when the senator put in perspective how medical research would fit into the new economy."Discovery, inventing and innovation are the three pillars of a modern knowledge-based economy… Innovation is the successful implementation of new ideas, the creation of new products – wealth," Dr. Kitts said, recalling Senator Ogilvie’s words.
Doctors at the Ottawa Hospital welcomed members of the Senate Social Affairs, Science and Technology committee. From left to right are: Leonid Chepelev, radiology resident physician at the Ottawa Hospital, Senator Marie-Françoise Mégie, Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen, Senator Kelvin Kenneth Ogilvie, Dr. Frank Rybicki, chief of medical imaging at the Ottawa Hospital, Senator Art Eggleton, Senator Tony Dean, Senator René Cormier and Dr. Adnan Sheikh, medical director of the 3D printing program at the Ottawa Hospital.
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Senators learn about robotics, artificial intelligence in the health-care system
Senators went back to school to learn how robots are used in the medical field. Members of the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology visited the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital on a fact-finding mission Monday, May 15 as part of their study of the role of robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D printing in the health-care system.
University of Ottawa Fact-Finding Mission
Wojtek Michalowski, a health informatics professor, and Ian Kerr, the Canada Research chair in Ethics, Law and Technology described how AI gives physicians new ways to treat patients. They discussed the ethical issues surrounding the delegating of medical decision-making to machines and the concept of attributing human-like qualities to robots.
Senator René Cormier, seated, waits while a robot renders a 3D model of him.Engineering faculty members demonstrated their haptics for medical training. Haptics is an AI term that refers to replicating the sensation of touch in electronic devices. They’re using it to better understand surgeries by reproducing the feedback between surgical tools and human tissues.
Senator Kelvin Kenneth Ogilvie tries a haptics device, a robotic tool used to help stroke patients re-learn how to write.The senators’ second stop was at the Faculty of Engineering’s Bioln Robotics Lab at the University of Ottawa, where researchers are working on improving how a new generation of humanoid robots will interact with humans.Professor Emil M. Petriu introduced senators to an orange robot named Pumpkin while research assistant Miriam Goubran demonstrated a human-like multi-fingered robot hand that is capable of sensing a person’s touch and manipulating objects.
Research assistant Miriam Goubran demonstrates a prosthetic glove in the Bioln Robotics Lab.
From left, Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen, Senator René Cormier, Senator Art Eggleton and Senator Marie-Françoise Mégie interact with Pumpkin, the robot, in the Bioln Robotics Lab.
Ottawa Hospital Fact-Finding Mission
Next, committee members went to the Ottawa Hospital, home of Canada’s first hospital-based, medical 3D printing program.
Dr. Adnan Sheikh, medical director of the 3D printing program, Leonid Chepelev, radiology resident physician, Dr. Paul E. Beaulé and Dr. Frank J. Rybicki explained how 3D printing’s high degree of precision can be tailored to match each patient’s unique anatomy.
From left, senators René Cormier, Marie-Françoise Mégie and Art Eggleton learn about 3D printed prosthetics from Leonid Chepelev, radiology resident physician at the Ottawa Hospital.Dr. Jack Kitts, Ottawa Hospital President and CEO, said he was reminded of a conversation he had with Senator Ogilvie a few years ago, when the senator put in perspective how medical research would fit into the new economy."Discovery, inventing and innovation are the three pillars of a modern knowledge-based economy… Innovation is the successful implementation of new ideas, the creation of new products – wealth," Dr. Kitts said, recalling Senator Ogilvie’s words.
Doctors at the Ottawa Hospital welcomed members of the Senate Social Affairs, Science and Technology committee. From left to right are: Leonid Chepelev, radiology resident physician at the Ottawa Hospital, Senator Marie-Françoise Mégie, Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen, Senator Kelvin Kenneth Ogilvie, Dr. Frank Rybicki, chief of medical imaging at the Ottawa Hospital, Senator Art Eggleton, Senator Tony Dean, Senator René Cormier and Dr. Adnan Sheikh, medical director of the 3D printing program at the Ottawa Hospital.