Dental Training Robot Behaves Like a Patient

A motorized robot mannequin for training dental students offers a more realistic, functional, and easier to use learning interface.

Developed by researchers at Showa University (Tokyo, Japan), the Showa Hanako 2 robotic dental patient possesses autonomous actions, allowing it to blink, roll its eyes, sneeze, shake its head, cough, move its tongue, and even get tired of keeping its mouth open. In addition, the robot has a conversation capability, using speech recognition technology from Raytron (Montreal, Canada). The tongue and arms of the robot each have two degrees of freedom, and the robot overall has ten, enabling it to make natural movements, such as shaking its head and choking due to gag reflex.

The main features that distinct the new robot from its predecessor, Hanako 1, is a silicone skin and mouth lining supplied by Orient Industry (Tokyo, Japan), a maker of realistic love dolls. The skin was changed from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to silicone, and the tongue and cheek linings have been formed in one piece, presenting a more lifelike appearance as well as better insulation from liquids of the mechanical systems. The head, which was previously moved only pneumatically, is now motor-driven. The robotic patient is manufactured by Tmsuk (Fukuoka, Japan).

“We considered the motions of the tongue and mouth lining separately. To prevent water getting into the machinery and causing problems, we wanted to form those parts in one piece if possible. But the molding technology for doing that wasn't available to us. Orient Industry had that technology, and it helped us a lot,” said Professor Kuotaro Maki, DDS, of the Showa University School of Dentistry. “People choke if you put your fingers down their throat, which is called the gag reflex. We've reproduced that reflex. Students are taught about this from textbooks, but it's hard to teach them what actually happens; so we've built a choking capability into this robot.”

“If you don't try to make a robot's face look realistic, it doesn't have the same effect on users psychologically,” added Professor Maki. “How doctors and students actually feel in the presence of a patient is a really big factor; it makes quite a difference if students can train while experiencing the same kind of tension they'd feel about a human patient. We think it's OK for people to be tense while training, and to make mistakes, because, well, this is a robot.”

Related Links:
Showa University
Orient Industry
Tmsuk