Telepresence & Telemedicine
 

Telepresence 
TTRG defines telepresence as "the experience of being present at a live real world location remote from one's own physical location. It creates the illusion that you're completely immersed in another environment, either real or synthetic." Source: http://telepresence.dmem.strath.ac.uk/telepresence.htm
 

The flexibility of telepresence allows a myriad of applications including:

     1.  Aquatics - Deep sea exploration, underwater repair and maintenance
 
     2.  Nuclear Industry - Remotely carry out inspections and maintenance in areas with high radiation
 
     3.  Outer Space and Planetary Work - Operations in a vacuum and extremes of temperature and pressure
 
     4.  Remote Surveillance - Sensor platforms operating autonomously in robotic mode monitors sensitive areas
 
     5.  Education - Allows students to visit other countries, outer space and underwater from the classroom
 
     6.  Entertainment - Provides the means to tour museums, zoos, etc... from home

     7.  Medicine - The combination of telepresence and teleoperation by remote surgeons


For any telepresence system there are three essential sub-systems:

     1.   The home site technology which interfaces to the user and the communication link

2.     The communication link itself which interfaces to the home site and the remote site

3.     The remote site technology which interfaces with the communication link and possibly a remote site human
 

Telerobotics
A telepresence robot is typically equipped with a video camera, a microphone, and a wireless transmitter that enables it to send signals to an Internet connection. With the help of artificial-intelligence software and various sensors, telepresence robots can roam down hallways without bumping into walls and even climb flights of stairs.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding the development of the Packbot, which is designed to do reconnaissance and surveillance in environments where it would not be safe for humans to go.  Other uses for telepresence robots are to aid the search-and-rescue efforts, search parking garages for inspecting pipes and ducts and also for home use. Such a robot could be a lifeline for senior citizens living alone; the robot would allow nurses and relatives to see whether an elderly person is ill or needs immediate help.

Telemedicine 
The technology, called medical telepresence, or telemedicine, is a term applied to telepresence used in any field of medicine. Source: http://telepresence.dmem.strath.ac.uk/telepresence.htm

Telemedicine utilizes information and telecommunications technology to transfer medical information for diagnosis, therapy and education. The information may include medical images, live two-way audio and video, patient medical records, output data from medical devices and sound files. The telemedical interaction may involve two-way live audio and video visits between patients and medical professionals, sending patient monitoring data from the home to a clinic or transmitting a patient medical file from a primary care provider to a specialist.

Although relatively new, telemedicine is rapidly changing and is quickly becoming an integral component in the delivery of modern health care regardless of a patient’s geographic or socioeconomic status. By taking advantage of the advances in telecommunications, lowered technology costs and the use of transmission modes like ISDN, T1, ATM, DSL, Satellite, Microwave, digital wireless, and the Internet, growth of telemedicine over the next five to ten years will be enormous.

New applications are making it practical for direct communications between patient and provider and physician and specialist. In this way telemedicine can bring medical services directly to the point of need.

In the United States health providers in a growing number of medical specialties use telemedicine including dermatology, oncology, radiology, surgery, cardiology, and mental health. The largest areas of utilization of telemedicine currently are:

1.     Teleradiology: involves the transmission of medical images (X-Ray, MRI, etc.) to a radiologist for 
           interpretation.

2.     Patient monitoring: uses remote patient monitors to allow the patient to remain at home and deliver the
           monitoring data to the health professional through he telephone.

3.     Correctional care: lowers the cost of transporting prisoners to a medical clinic, and the potential danger to
           civilian populations as a result of the prisoner transport

4.     Federal populations: Many federal agencies including the DOD aimed at bringing medical care to the soldier on
           the front lines of battle. NASA has been a leader in the development of telemedicine for use in truly distant
           locations.

Significant hurdles remain, including economic, technical, legal and regulatory barriers and acceptance of the use of telemedicine by traditional medical establishments. These hurdles include:

1.     The high costs associated with setting up video cameras and audio devices in every physician's office and  every patient's home

2.     High-speed networks do not exist in many areas, and installing dedicated, point-to-point, sophisticated lines is an expensive undertaking

3.     Patient concerns with confidentiality of private, medical information.

4.     A formal and universally accessible electronic medical record is lacking.

5.     Malpractice issues have yet to be settled

6.     Physician licensing and liability issues restrict practice across state lines.

The promise of telemedicine is providing significantly improved and cost effective access to quality health care. The potential of telemedicine is helping to transform the delivery of health care and improve the health of millions of people throughout the world.  Source: http://www.americantelemed.org/news/overview.htm

Helpful Links

Telemedicine

American Telemedicine Association This website is a great source for news, resources and information on e-health

The Telemedicine Center  One of the premier telehealth organizations in the world.  This organization provides research and development, training , news, and services in telemedicine...complete with videos.

TATRC Cutting edge medical technology  This is a Department of Defense (DoD) interest computer system, so enter with caution. This site deals with integrating military medical requirements and biomedical principles with advanced technologies to develop and demonstrate prototypes of advanced devices and systems, including far forward appliqués, digital field hospital appliqués, and mobile mentoring vehicles.

Laproscopy.com An internet site for laproscopic surgery with videos of surgeries

Center for Telemedicine Law  CTL is a leader in the gathering and analysis of information related to the legal and regulatory aspects of telemedicine.

Virtual Microscopy  A Molecular Expressions Virtual Microscopy Website that uses interactive Java-powered virtual microscopes to explore specimen focus, illumination intensity, magnification, and translation---operating essentially in a manner that is identical to real-life microscopes.

Telepresence and the practice of Medicine  An article discussing current and future applications of telepresence in medicine and some of the hurdles involved with the practice

Telepresence

Long Distance Robots  An article about a telepresence robot, used to gather information in remote locations, that is equipped with a video camera, a microphone, and a wireless transmitter that enables it to send signals to an Internet connection.

Telepresence in Medicine This website discusses how telepresence can be used in surgery

Fly Me to the Moon How telepresence makes armchair astronauts out of Web users

NASA Telerobitics Program  NASA's Telerobotics Home Page

The Ubiquitous Telepresence Project A Web page with different links for current topics, research, publications, etc...
 

Telepresence with videos

The Hubble Project Live interactive Web cam

Perceptual Robotics Visit Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Niagra Falls, Midway Airport and other places

UM Weather Cam This Web page provides access to over 800 weather cameras across North America

Telepresence Research, Inc A California Corporation devoted to the design and development of virtual environment and remote presence technologies and applications. The company's basic goal was to create compelling immersive experiences in remote or synthesized environments.  Video

Sarnoff Corporation  A company that is working on a research project funded by DARPA under the NEXT GENERATION INTERNET INITIATIVE.  Has some cool video presentations