COBEM99

S2 Bioengenharia e Qualidade de Vida

Title:

THE ROLE OF THE MECHATRONIC ENGINEER IN MEDICAL ENGINEERING

Summary :

ABSTRACT. MEDICAL ENGINEERING AND SURGICAL ROBOTICS ARE RELATIVELY NEW SUBJECT AREAS IN THE FIELD OF CORRECTIVE AND PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE, AND AS SUCH THERE ARE TREMENDOUS OPPORTUNITIES FOR MECHANICAL ENGINEERS TO INFLUENCE THESE PARTICULAR FIELDS. THIS IS EVEN MORE SO FOR THOSE MECHANICAL ENGINEERS WHO HAVE CROSSED THE TRADITIONAL BOUNDARIES AND EMBRACED THE PARALLEL DISCIPLINES OF ELECTRONICS, COMPUTER SCIENCE AND DESIGN. IN TRUTH THE MECHATRONIC ENGINEER. MECHATRONICS IS ESSENTIALLY A TEAM OR GROUP APPROACH TO A PROBLEM WHEREBY ENGINEERS, EACH WITH A BROAD BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE AND MAYBE ONE AREA OF SPECIALISATION, ARE ABLE TO VISUALISE AND APPRECIATE THE WHOLE PROBLEM NOT JUST THEIR PARTICULAR SPECIALISATION. THIS IS NORMALLY CARRIED OUT IN THE NOW POPULAR ‘BRAINSTORMING’ MEETING. IN THIS PAPER THE AUTHORS WILL GIVE EXAMPLES OF THIS APPROACH TO PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH SURGICAL ROBOTICS APPLIED TO MINIMAL ACCESS SURGERY (MAS), ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY, SURGICAL THEATRE DESIGN, REHABILITATION ROBOTICS AND TO THE DESIGN OF MEDICAL AIDS FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED (VI). KEYWORDS: MECHATRONICS, MEDICAL ENGINEERING, REHABILITATION ROBOTICS, SURGICAL ROBOTICS.

Author :

Hewit, James R.
Slade, Alan Peter

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