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A Christmas or three ago, Intel Play introduced a low cost microscope with videocam attachment (that plugged right into a PC), allowing budding scientists to analyze microbes for under $100.
Portable sonogram machines are now gradually replacing stethoscopes as the accessory du jour for doctors.
These specialized pieces of equipment cost upwards of $12,500, out of reach of most families.
So, to encourage your little darlings to grow up to become doctors, this device is the mass market version, a portable, brightly colored sonogram with simplified controls that plugs right into your USB port. Now Johnnie and Annie can peer inside Fluffy and Rover, check out Grannie's heart, and see what's inside the rest of the Christmas/Hannukah presents. And, of course, ace those school science projects.
krelnik: this is not exactly a me-too. Intel showed that you can take a $10,000+ scientific instrument (namely a microscope with video hook-up) and mass market it as a toy for under $100. I am proposing the same thing for sonogram machines. Annotation deleted out of pique.
Portable Ultrasound Scanners
http://www.sonosite.com/
[dalek, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]
Intel Computer Microscope
http://www.intel.co...port/intelplay/qx3/
[dalek, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]
Pre-loved ultrasound equipment at rock bottom prices
http://www.imaginga...ound/inventory.html
[Monkfish, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004]
Sonosite MicroMaxx
http://www.bookofjo...ndthemedspe_10.html
They've succeeded in making it portable, just need to reduce the price to get it to consumer product levels, and add your USB connector. [krelnik, Apr 20 2005]
[link]
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Yes, but buy them this and next year the little baskets will all be howling for a "My First MRI Scanner" ...... |
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I'd love an ultrasound (or better yet, MRI) machine at home, even though the quality would surely not be as good as the doctor's. Is that stabbing abdominal pain gas or appendicitis? Well, you still wouldn't know without an M.D. around to interpret the picture, but maybe after having gas ten times you'd get a sense of what it looks like in there, and then when you do get something else... well, you probably wouldn't do anything differently, but it would still be entertaining and instructive. |
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"WARNING: You must be at least THIS tall before you attempt to give your younger sibling an angiogram or perform open heart surgery." |
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New, from Mattel, the frontal lobotomy kit. See whether Johnny really does have only half a brain. |
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Since some people seem to be getting confused, let me state very clearly, this is a TOY. It will NOT come with scalpels. |
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Also, the intense magnetic fields associated with it mean that an MRI machine will never be suitable for use outside a carefully regulated laboratory. |
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My step-grandfather was one of the very first brain surgeons in Fort Wayne. He had an old kit from his early years with drill bits, saws, metal hooks, etc. that my step-mom and siblings used to play with. Sometime when she's asleep, I'm going to look under that hair for holes... |
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I'm prety sure this is baked, kind of. They aren't totally affordable, but they do make sonogram machines that are cheaper, with a lower res. The only thing is, except when looking at something that moves, and is easily identifiable, its hard to read a sonogram unless you have medical training. everything looks like grey and black blobs. |
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//this is a TOY// - does it come in wood or plastic? I try to get only wooden toys for the little Sillies. |
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Mattel announce that the frontal lobotomy kit comes in three stages, stay tuned for the next two. |
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Back in my day, we used flashlights |
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You could make a portable X-ray system cheaper and easier than an MRI scanner, I suppose. |
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// Also, the intense magnetic fields associated with it mean that an MRI machine will never be suitable for use outside a carefully regulated laboratory. // |
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I disagree. A home MRI scanner is the perfect device for investigating the internal structure of the latest Kylie Minogue video, and any hard disk drive loaded with Whinedoze XP. |
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Mm. Christmas morning, your ten-year-old son discovers a softball-sized tumour in the cat with his new sonogram machine but, reluctant to halt his experiments, carries on with its daily battery of x-rays. Meanwhile, little sister frowns worriedly over a spectroscopic analysis of your urine sample and asks if you've been around any cadmium lately. Then, carols and punch. |
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falala*sob*lala*sniff* lala |
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I still don't see how you are going to make this cheap enough to be a toy. A microscope with a camera on it is a considerably simpler device than a sonogram. |
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//Annotation deleted out of pique.//
Keep that up and you'll find that folks around these parts will start ignoring your ideas out of pique. |
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This is a good idea. Muffin. The problem with sonograms is all the crappy noise - it looks like a snowstorm. I wonder if you could harness all of these overpowered Pentium beasts lying around to clean up the noise - use second harmonics or something like that. You could use the screen as the readout - save some expense there. What is left is the emitter and the receiver. And the jelly. Can't forget the jelly. |
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ravenswood: You can have my son's old one. He hasn't used it since five days after Christmas four (?) years ago. |
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I'll introduce you sometime. She will dig you. |
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I was just about to halfbake a USB ultrasound device when lo-and behold it had been done before. Legendary idea [dalek] |
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