Will wonders never cease? Japanese scientist have put together a robot that serves as a treatment training/testing device. The disease in question is the H1N1 virus where the human-like robot will go through all the symptoms of the dreaded virus. The objective is for doctors and medical folk to try and 'cure' the robot in time or at least come up with a workable treatment and not let the little guy die. Scientists showcased this robot on October 22 at Security and Safety Trade Expo in Tokyo.

The robot itself is impressive. It is as big as a normal human being complete with outer surface that acts like human skin. I say it acts like human skin but it's not as complex as you are probably imagining. You know, you can't cut the skin and get oozy blood over you . Apparently this surface has tiny pores because of which the bot exhibits signs of sweating. Likewise, this test subject is also capable of crying. I just found the limitations on the skin surface interesting because that would be one way to find more about infections or at least how they spread, possibly from patient to doctor, right? Then again, this bot is supposed to be about aiding medics in their speedy pursuit of curing H1N1 as opposed to figuring out various infection methods.

So you have a 'reactive' robot that acts as a good guinea pig of sorts. What is the point of this? As I mentioned earlier, this robot is programmed to exhibit the warning signs of H1N1 virus – sweating, shivering, etc. I am guessing that the moaning and crying that is also programmed into the robot is part of the feedback doctors need for proper treatment of patients. Thus, if the medical folk are doing it right, the bot is happy. But if they are fumbling or messing up, the patient gets worse. Here's the weirdest bit; seems like the robot is also programmed to showcase the worst case scenario – death. How can you tell if the robot has passed on? The not so little guy stops breathing. There are going to be a number of first-time medical staff who will keel over and cry when this happens for the first time!

All in all, while it comes across as a giant tamagotchi, I must admit this sounds like an excellent idea. Firstly, you need hands-on experience in case a whole bunch of people start falling sick with H1N1 virus. You don't want folks to feel overwhelmed when too many cases start popping up. Secondly, the flu is a touchy topic in that quite a few folk are freaked out about the death rate from this disease. Of course, the media hype does not exactly help when talking about infections. So, in a way, you are taking preventative measures by minimizing any chances of deaths by swine flu when you use this tester bot. On a side note, if robots from the future ever become sentient and become whizzes at time travel, they will be quite horrified with this experiment. Then again, they are probably more interested in seeking out Mr. John Connor than rooting for Sneezy Bot here.

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