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Mind / Iron
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by Bryan Bergeron, Editor
PUBLISHER
Larry Lemieux
publisher@servomagazine.com
The Broader Perspective
Before you know it, it will be the
end of summer. Time to finish that
robotics project that’s been lingering
on your workbench for weeks, and,
economics allowing, perhaps take
one more vacation trip. If you’re a
student, it’s also the start of a new
academic year and time to think
about starting or returning to school.
It’s also time to think about selecting
and pursing a career.
If you’re considering robotics as
a field of study, make sure you take
the broader perspective. As I’ve
mentioned in past editorials, the
focus of robotics and — more
importantly — robotics technology
extends beyond creating Wall-E look-alikes, developing and testing combat
robots, and creating automatic gutter
cleaners. Although you may have
dreams of one day creating the
ultimate Cylon, you’ll probably make
a bigger splash in the world by
working in one of the high-relevance
areas that depends directly on
robotic technology: medical devices.
The archetypical medical device
— the implantable cardiac pacemaker
— is shown in the accompanying
photo. As you can see, a pacemaker
is about half the width of my index
finger. The diminutive device
monitors the electrical activity of the
wearer’s heart and, when it detects a
significant aberration in the signal, it
generates a signal that paces the
heart back into a normal rate and
rhythm. And normal is a function of
activity — slower for sitting and more
rapid for walking or jogging.
To accomplish this feat, the
sealed, bio-inert device has to
flawlessly sense and respond to the
electrical activity of the wearer’s
heart for five years or more. Think
battery technology, sensor
technology, materials engineering,
thermal engineering, and electrical
engineering.
Moreover, we’re just getting
started, as the pacemaker is typically
part of a much larger system of
devices that rely on robotics
technologies. For starters, the
pacemaker has to be programmed to
suit the physiology of the wearer. An
active person with relatively modest
cardiac disease requires a set of
alarms and an auto pacing rate that
are different from someone with
severe cardiac disease. This
programming is accomplished by a
physician or other clinician who
uses a wireless programmer that
communicates with the embedded
pacemaker. A technician monitors
the wearer’s EKG through a wireless
RF link with the pacemaker and
adjusts the triggering and pacing
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/
VP OF SALES/MARKETING
Robin Lemieux
display@servomagazine.com
EDITOR
Bryan Bergeron
techedit-servo@yahoo.com
TECHNICAL EDITOR
Dan Danknick
dan@teamdelta.com
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Jeff Eckert Tom Carroll
Gordon McComb David Geer
Dennis Clark R. Steven Rainwater
Fred Eady Kevin Berry
David Ward John Blankenship
Samuel Mishal John Iovine
Andrew Alter Paul Verhage
Nick Martin Marco Meggiolaro
William Smith
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR
Tracy Kerley
subscribe@servomagazine.com
MARKETING COORDINATOR
WEBSTORE
Brian Kirkpatrick
sales@servomagazine.com
WEB CONTENT
Michael Kaudze
website@servomagazine.com
PRODUCTION/GRAPHICS
Shannon Lemieux
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Debbie Stauffacher
Mind/Iron Continued
6 SERVO 06.2009
Copyright 2009 by
T & L Publications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
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