10 Days Out

I've done everything I can think of to prepare. I've read two books for patients written by orthopaedic surgeons to learn what to expect. I've read one written by a patient about recovery. I've bought assistive aids from elevated toilet seats to glides for the back legs of my walker that act as brakes when pushed down. I have all of them collected in my closet except for my shower chair, which is in the car trunk and some water bottles, which are in the utility room, ready to be frozen for my cold therapy machine. I've made appointments for physical therapy for both prehab (home exercise to strengthen my knee before surgery) and post-op rehab, and an appointment for delivery of a range of motion machine to be delivered the evening before surgery. I have my instructions for eating, taking meds, drinking my Gatorade G2 prior to surgery, cleansing and disinfecting, and for filling out my pre-surgery instruction pass to on the day of the surgery. The only thing I don't know is the time to arrive, something I won't know until the day before. I have someone who has graciously agreed to be my driver that day and pick me up after the observation when I'm discharged the next day. My roommate will also be there during the surgery.

So I think we're set.

I'm nervous, but not really anxious, which is REALLY good for me.

And I think it's hilarious that it's going to be robot-assisted by Rosa Robot. Apparently, at Baptist, all the surgical robots have names, and each surgeon prefers certain ones. Dr

Talwalkar must like Rosa. I'm looking forward to meeting Rosa.

Wish me luck.

This is a very neat programme

California library uses robots to help kids with autism learn and connect with the world around them

About one in 36 children in the United States is on the autism spectrum, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the Santa Ana Public Library is one of the first libraries to provide the pricey program for free. The initiative has been spearheaded by head librarian Cheryl Eberly, who said that she launched the program during the pandemic and hopes to fill gaps of services for children of color, who are often not diagnosed with autism until they're older.

"Every time I see a kid on the spectrum or a neurodivergent kid lock in and interact with the robot and get that moment where they are bonded and they understand, it's amazing," Eberly said. "It's like validation that this works."

Found this

from a Facebook page called The Secret Nerd Base. I'm not sure if it's original to them or not.



(For those who didn't pay attention to the story behind the image, here's a link: Hitchhiking Robot Is Decapitated And Left In A Ditch After Just Two Weeks)

While hitchBOT had travelled across Canada and Europe coming to no harm, the hitching automaton was found vandalized and destroyed beyond repair in Philadelphia this month.

Thanks to Vanessa, who is either from Philadelphia or at least taught there for awhile, who shared it on Facebook.

I'd love to decipher their words

Robots develop language to 'talk' to each other

Robots are developing their own language to help them navigate and improve their intellectual ability.

The Lingodroid research project lets robots generate random sounds for the places they visit in both simulations and a real office.

The "words" are shared and the robots play games to establish which sound represents which location.

The lexicon has proved so sophisticated that it can be used to help robots find places other robots direct them to.

The machines are being allowed to generate their own words because human language is so loaded with information that robots found it hard to understand, said project leader Dr Ruth Schulz from the University of Queensland.

Missed this awhile back

U.S. Military Working on Flesh Eating Robot

Is this really a good idea? I wish I could find the animated short YKWIA showed me where the inventor's project went awry and his invention ate everything, even him.

I don't have a tag called 'Things That Might Run Amuck' but maybe I should.