Robotic Pathologist Performs Precise, Clean Autopsies on Humans

Autopsies, for all the useful information they provide, have
significant downsides. They are often upsetting to the
deceased's family, they prevent people from receiving certain
kinds of religious burials, and they leave a bit of a mess.
To correct for those problems and more, a team at the
University of Bern, Switzerland, has developed a robot that
can perform virtual autopsies.

The robot uses stereo cameras to record a 3-D image of the
body's exterior, and a CT scanner to record the body's
internal condition. This results in a complete, 3-D,
computerized model of the entire body. Doctors can control
the robot to perform micro-biopsies for tissue examination,
doing away with any serious deformation of the body. The
medical examiner can then analyze the image, perform virtual
biopsies, and store the data for future use. The process
leaves no pile of used organs, and no jars filled with
alcohol and tissue.

In addition to making the whole process much easier, the
robot-conducted virtual autopsy also makes it easier for
medical examiners to compare the current corpse with previous
cases, and build a database for future reference.

Additionally, the robot used for the autopsy is much cheaper
than the robots usually used for surgery. Since there's no
chance of hurting someone who's already dead, the robot that
does the job can be a less precise, industrial model, the
type designed to assemble a car, not remove an appendix. For
similar reasons, surgical robots need a doctor monitoring
them at all times, but the robo-medical examiner can operate
autonomously.

Welcome to the future: if you're not killed by a robot, then
at the very least, a robot will figure out how you died.