When stroke victims suffer a stroke in the middle of the night or another time when a neurologist may not be present at a local hospital, Michigan patients will now have help from a robotic interface for doctors that will help save valuable time.

(original story) Robots help treat stroke patients fast
Doctors on call can log on and get patient diagnostics from any computer via the Web.
Sarah Karush / Associated Press

When a patient suffers a stroke in the middle of the night, or any other time when a neurologist may be off duty at the local hospital, Michigan patients will now have access to a doctor via a robotic interface which will help make the decision on treatment more immediate saving precious minutes.

(original story) Robots help treat stroke patients fast
Doctors on call can log on and get patient diagnostics from any computer via the Web.
Sarah Karush / Associated Press

AI has been a fantasy for hundreds of years, albeit in less than scientific terms.  The mirror that the wicked queen queries from time to time in the fable of Snow White embodies our basic tenets of a human like non human intelligence.  Since Alan Turing set forth his TURING TEST  to determine whether a machine was intelligent (i.e. would pass as human), we have eagerly anticipated the day that this might happen.  Many anticipated this as a multi century achievement; but, others have been shocked that the test has not been rendered irrelevant decades ago.

Here are a couple examples that make this journalist believe that we are getting closer:

1.  Alice, has been around for quite some time; but, never has she waxed so eloquent!

As technology gets better, Robots are becoming more human.  Scientists are even working on cosmetic skin for robots which feels entirely human.

Weird as very human robots may strike us, how do we feel about the following feline automaton from Sega Toys named Yume-Neko Smile (”Dream Cat Smile”).