Robots Will Be Used to Help Treat Football Concussions
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When Northern Arizona opens its college football season at the University of Arizona on Friday night, the Lumberjacks’ sports medicine team will have a new member: a robot. VGo (pronounced vee-go) is a two-wheeled, remote-controlled, electrically powered robot developed by VGo Communications of New Hampshire that stands 4 feet upright and resembles a miniature Segway. VGo’s presence signals the start of a study, conducted jointly by NAU and the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, of whether wireless telecommunication can be used to diagnose concussions in players who might be far away from a trained neurologist. It is equipped on top with a six-inch LCD display screen, a camera, microphones, a speaker and wireless capability. It is designed so a doctor in one location can see, hear and talk to an athlete in another and vice versa.
