Unpopular opinion: Physical therapy bots need better 'chill' protocols

So I was testing this new robotic exoskeleton for knee rehab, right? It kept correcting my stretches like I was a misaligned servo or something. At one point, it decided my downward dog was a fault condition and tried to reset my posture with little pneumatic puffs. My physical therapist was in stitches, saying the machine had more opinions than her last intern. We had to power cycle the thing just to finish the session, and now I'm convinced robots are overthinking human flexibility.

3 comments

3 Comments

eric_hunt5d ago

Wesley's point about treating pain as a software bug is spot on. My smart thermostat keeps trying to OPTIMIZE my sleep by blasting AC at 3 AM. Total overkill, just like that rehab robot.

wesley4396d ago

Yikes, that sounds like it's treating pain as a software bug. What if it's meant to learn your pain threshold instead of just the perfect geometric form?

the_uma6d ago

Jesus, my friend Leo got this intricate geometric tattoo last year and his artist kept adjusting pressure in real time. Leo said when the needle hit near his wrist bone the guy immediately lightened up, but went firmer on the fatty part of his shoulder. It wasn't about ignoring the pain signals, it was like the artist was mapping his personal tolerance landscape. By the end, the lines were perfect but the process felt collaborative, not like a machine error correction.