Robotic Dental Patients; WTF!

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Dental News
To say it's difficult to find human volunteers willing to be worked on by first-year dental students just might be the understatement of the year. Just imagine nervous, unsteady hands using needle-sharp probes and drills working on an area in your mouth that's been causing you excruciating pain? No thanks.

Thankfully, robotic scientists at Japan's Showa University say they have developed the perfect dental patient; a life-like dental training robot that blinks and flinches just like a human dental patient would. Named "Showa Hanako 2", this robotic entity is slated to go on sale in Japan in late 2011 for an as yet unspecified amount of money.

But Showa Hanako 2's worth goes beyond the dental chair. After the check-up is finished the robot is not only capable of storing and analyzing each student's performance, but able to provide feedback through a computer link.

First developed 10 years ago by a research team, this eerily life-like robot is capable of sneezing, head shaking, coughing, mimicking gagging and snapping a mouth shut like a real patient's involuntary reflex. This dentist "trainee tool" can even hold down simple conversations as it is equipped with voice recognition technology.

But perhaps the most convincing element of the robot's appearence is the skin, made of silicone. Designers consulted with Japan's top sex doll manufacturer, Orient Industry, to help make Showa Hanako 2's skin, tongue and mouth.