Complete two responses, but do not respond on any papers that already have two responses, as you will not receive credit (This is so everyone receives a response). Please cut and paste the following questions into your response, and answer them.
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Paper #1
Andrew Segal
English 1102
Professor Kassorla
December 5, 2021
Is the Cheesemonger’s Job Secure?
In the course of my cheese-loving life, I’ve had the good fortune to visit four different artisanal creameries scattered across Southern Europe. Two of these specialized in the production of cheeses that many folks will know well: Parmesan, commonly grated over most pasta dishes, and Roquefort, key ingredient in one of the original blue cheese salad dressings. The other two creameries made equally tasty but less well-known cheeses: Morbier and Cabrales. Perhaps it was these experiences that catalyzed my choice of a career as a cheesemonger. Now I seek to determine whether automation and roboticization in the cheese industry pose risks to cheesemongers, as it has to jobs in several other industries. Recall, for example, that there was a time when all gas was pumped into cars by station attendants; you would be hard-pressed to find one today! But before I address my concern directly, I want to share with you my European cheese travelogue, because it will help you understand my appreciation for the stuff, and also highlight one of the conclusions that I believe I will draw from my research – that the passion and knowledge of a cheesemonger is, on the whole, not replaceable by automation or roboticization.
My first encounter with a creamery occurred in the province of Emilia-Romagna, one of Italy’s gastronomic hubs that is home to much deliciousness: Prosciutto di Parma, Parmesan cheese, balsamic vinegar, baloney (the original, Italian version), mortadella, and Bolognese sauce, among many others. Vacationing in this area with some friends, I proposed one day that we find a Parmesan creamery to visit. We all agreed, and, since the internet hadn’t yet been conjured up, we set out driving blindly, hoping to spot a sign by the side of one of Parma’s peripheral roads that would point us to a creamery, much like signs everywhere in Napa Valley call attention to its wineries. This was not the case, though, and after a while, frustrated with our bad luck in locating what we knew was all around us, we spotted a farm with a big, modern barn in it. We pulled in and asked a man stepping out of the farmhouse if he could guide us to a Parmesan creamery. “We make parmiggiano here,” he said, and invited us in to take a look around. For over an hour we enjoyed watching the dairymen, dressed all in white, poking at murky liquids in huge vats and transporting soppy blobs of what looked like wet dough between stations. In the barn we were amazed by the endless rows of Parmesan wheels aging on shelves stacked from floor to ceiling.
A few years later, my same friends and I, on vacation again, detoured through Roquefort, France, to visit the eponymous creamery there. While the cheese samples were delicious, the experience was a bit stilted. Unlike the unvarnished encounter we had with Parmesan, here we found ourselves, along with dozens of other gawkers, on a coordinated and pre-planned tour of the production facility and aging caves. Everything was staged and lit dramatically for our benefit. At the end of the tour we were corralled into a gift shop for their benefit. I’m glad I went, but this type of manicured, commercial tourism has always left me a bit wanting.
My same friends and I returned to France some years later on yet another vacation, this time centered around the beautiful, tiny medieval town of Baume-les-Messieurs, hemmed in closely by tall bluffs. Cheese was not on our mind: we planned to explore the area and its sights. As luck would have it, though, on our second day there, as we walked along one of the bluffs overlooking the town, we encountered a building on which was affixed a small plaque identifying it as a creamery. I had to investigate. This facility was much smaller than the one we had seen in Parma, but it too had vats filled with goopy-looking substances that wouldn’t ordinarily whet an appetite. The cheese being made here was Morbier, one I hadn’t heard of until then. The unusual step in Morbier production is the addition of a protective layer of vegetable ash sprinkled over the top of the morning milks; the afternoon milks are then added on top of the ash layer several hours later. The ash is tasteless, but gives the cheese a unique, immediately recognizable appearance.
Finally, several years later, after making plans to visit friends in northern Spain, I researched local cheeses and discovered a small batch blue cheese named Cabrales made in the area. I persuaded my hosts to commit one of my visiting days to a road trip to the town to see if we could find a creamery there to visit. I deflected their objections about not having a name or an address to go to directly. “That’s not how it works—at least for me,” I told them, recounting my earlier lucky encounters in Italy and France. They relented, and we ended up in the ridiculously tiny town of Cabrales (25 buildings large maybe?) that seemed completely deserted. We walked around until we came to an old home whose front door was ajar. “Excuse me!” my friend yelled into the darkness. A man met us at the door, and we explained we wanted to find a Cabrales creamery to see the cheese being made. He shooed us backwards, out to the street, and then instructed us to follow him, leading us through another door off the street into his basement. “I make Cabrales cheese.” “Of course you do”, I said to myself.
Unlike even the small Morbier facility, this was a one-man show. He had a tub, a worktable, and a few implements of the trade. He offered us a sample and, savoring our appreciation of the cheese, said, “I am going to the caves now. If you like, you can come with me.” This was an unbelievable bonus. Cabrales cheese ages in dank, dark caves in the surrounding hillsides. The caves’ mold-laden ecosystems, which give the cheese their blueness and flavors, are delicate, and visitors are rarely allowed in. At the cave entrance, we crouched in and followed, watching him inspect his cheeses and turn a few of them over on crudely hewn shelves that clung to the bendy walls the entire distance of the cave.
Now that I have introduced myself and told you about some of my cheese-related travels, let me ask you a question. Imagine you are in a cheese shop looking to buy one or more specialty cheeses for a dinner party you’re having. You’ve researched a couple of options online, but you’re still not sure what would work best for you that evening. Two objects stand before you. The first is a robot who flashes you an LED smile and asks monotonically, “May I help you?” The second is human – me – and I look you in the eye and nod slightly, ready to help. Mine is a knowing nod; I am comfortable in this environment, and I seem familiar with all of the products on display, perhaps as though I’ve even been to some of the places from where they originate. Here’s what I’d like to know: whom do you turn to for service?
Much in the industry of cheese today has already been automated. Huge industrial conglomerates make vast amounts of processed cheese for sale to consumers, restaurants, and food manufacturers. While their products are unlikely to be a feature in a specialty cheese shop, their methods storing, marketing, and selling their products could certainly be relevant to a small cheese shop owner. I’d like to explore that possibility as I consider my own future as a cheesemonger. How much automation and roboticization has already occurred in the cheese industry, and where has it occurred? Which functions of a cheesemonger’s job have been already been modernized and updated technologically? These won’t be easy questions to answer. I can’t imagine there is a lot of information available about automation in specialty cheese shops, but there might be some related to other types of specialty retail that could be relevant to a cheesemonger.
I suspect that there is room for automation among a cheesemonger’s activities. Systems such as product ordering and storing can be modernized through use of smart, data-based technologies. Similarly, a business’s back-room functions (e.g.: accounting and human resources) all have readily available software applications that can replace the traditional retailer’s old-school methodologies of running a business. Today, online businesses with convenient delivery options sell all manner of products, and cheese needn’t be an exception. But I also think the type of demand that consumers have for specialty, authentic, hand-crafted, culturally informed products of many types (cheese being just one of them), ensures that there can still be a place for a traditional cheesemonger, at least in affluent communities whose residents can afford paying for the high cost of human service. As you imagined yourself in a cheese shop face-to-face with a robot and the store owner, didn’t you think to yourself you’d trust the human more? That he’d be better able to understand precisely what your needs were and propose a solution tailored to you?
As a future cheesemonger, I want to know whether cheesemongering is secure from automation and roboticization – will I be replaced by new, developing technologies? To answer that question, I first want to take a view of the entire cheese industry – from producer to purveyor – and see where automation and roboticization have already occurred. Then, drilling down into the functions that a cheesemonger performs, I want to consider which aspects of the job are most susceptible to automation, and which might resist it.
While there still are specialty cheeses made in small batches and by traditional, low-tech methods, the vast majority of cheese production has already been roundly automated. One self-proclaimed roboticist who works for a large cheese manufacturer notes, “A cheese factory needs robots to perform repetitive tasks at high volume 24 hours a day”, and goes on to cite several functions that his factory’s robots are well-served to perform, such as separating milk into curds and whey (I am a Roboticist). But even relatively small cheese producers can still incorporate automation and robotics in the cheese-making process.
Cheese processors are … seeking to increase automation while retaining an artisan character for their products. … Dewlay Cheesemakers approached Mitsubishi Electric with a simple proposition – enabling the manufacturer to make more cheeses in larger batches without sacrificing the processes and procedures that make its products identifiable as its own (foodmanufacture.co.uk).
It’s self-evident that automation and roboticization have a place in the manufacturing of cheese. Both processes evolved from mechanization, a development that first gained grist as a major force during the Industrial Revolution (Automation | Technology), and both have applications for almost every conceivable end product, including cheese. But what’s unclear is whether such systems can be applied as successfully to the retail end of the cheese market.
It is notable that I didn’t find in my research much discussion about automation and roboticization in the selling of cheese – at the mongering end in which I want to play a part. For sure, there are many products that automate and apply robotics to some back-end functions in retailing, such as inventory management, payroll, and customer data management. But there doesn’t seem to exist much automated support for the customer-facing, front-end of retail businesses outside of e-commerce channels. The application of robotics in retail stores that I did find focused on very narrow tasks:
Marty, a bilingual (English and Spanish) robot, has been deployed in 172 grocery stores in the U. S. to alert shoppers to potential hazards such as spills
Tally, a tall slender supermarket robot, wanders around store aisles monitoring shelves and alerting employees when it finds out-of-stock items
Alphabot, an order fulfillment robot used by Walmart, does its work in the storeroom behind doors and off the main floor
Millie, an Australian robot that, like Marty, warns customers of spills, also knows how to clean up those spills
Interestingly, Millie’s trial runs received mixed reviews by Australian shoppers; they thought the robot had unfriendly eyes and wondered whether human beings who previously had dealt with spills had lost their jobs (5 Robots).
I uncovered no applications inside retail stores of robots or automation that deal with customer service and product-related interactions. That setting may need to remain high-touch, especially for expensive specialty products and for products for which customers typically don’t have full information, like fine cheeses. One journalist, commenting on retail automation efforts, illustrates the difference:
The plan is for robots to take over the mundane tasks and leave human employees open to doing more high-value jobs, like customer service. For example, instead of spending time finding items on store shelves, employees could interact with customers to teach them about new products and, ideally, boost sales (Petro).
This difference is important in answering my research question. It suggests that different aspects of a cheesemonger’s job have different capacities for automation.
As I considered my future as a cheesemonger, I set out to determine whether my chosen future job would be easily replaced by automation or roboticization. I thought my research would uncover some discussion of these modern trends in the arena of cheese sales, or failing that, at least in specialty retail. I was wrong: there seems to be precious little of it. While automation and roboticization are prevalent in the manufacture of goods including cheese, they seem to play a marginal role in the traditional retail shop environment. They certainly haven’t yet infiltrated specialty cheese shops.
Those parts of the job that are susceptible to automation and roboticization are not specific to cheesemongering. They involve back-room functions of general retailing and the narrowest of activities taking place on a shop’s floor. These functions, with such varied purposes as payroll, employee on-boarding, customer data organization, inventory management, and alerting customers to spills can be modernized with a good bit of automation if not roboticization. But notice, first of all, that while some of these functions can be automated, there still needs to be a body to implement and oversee these updated processes: these technologies may skinny down the workforce required to run a retail store but don’t obviate the need for at least a skeleton crew to run all the various aspects of such a business. Second, notice that these functions largely don’t include customer-facing aspects of the job.
That second observation is key to answering my question. The sales touchpoints for products into which customers invest themselves (such as the cheeses that crown their dinner parties) are resistant to automation, not just because each customer application can be unique, situational, and requiring of judgement – something we haven’t yet figured out how to program into a robot – but also because the very nature of the specialty of the product – its craft, its tradition, its cultural heritage, its story – is part of what the customer values. A robot is simply not as capable of delivering that value to the customer as a cheese shop proprietor who listens, counsels, and prepares the customer with both knowledge and context of the product so that the customer can more fully enjoy that product. That is how a specialty business develops appreciation and sense of value in a customer. By its nature, automation blunts these coveted customer reactions.
Consider my experience at four different European creameries observing how the local cheeses were made and learning context around the process of fine-cheese making as well as their tastes and uses by consumers. That experience is just a drop in the bucket of knowledge and exposure that a cheesemonger would develop along the way to becoming a formidable merchandiser of specialty foods in a local community. Expand that exposure twentyfold or more and you have an expert whose broad base of knowledge sets up opportunities to apply judgement to customers’ specific needs and situations – something a robot simply can’t reproduce.
We are accustomed to and accept the role of an expert in the fine wine business, even if we sometimes mock it for its apparent snobbishness. There are organizations of sommeliers that set forth formidable induction exams, wherein applicants must show a wide range of knowledge, taste, and judgement. In fact, the same is developing around fine cheeses: the American Cheese Society now offers a Certified Cheese Professional exam that is three hours long and probes a cheesemonger’s knowledge in six broad categories, from the science of cheese-making to tasting and identifying cheeses from around the world, to understanding the myriad federal food regulations that impinge on the entire breadth of the cheese market from manufacture to consumption (Foodservice). While some of this vast knowledge can be programmed into a robot, choosing what pieces of information to consider and applying judgement and context to them based on a customer’s individual needs cannot.
I conclude that the future of the cheesemonger’s position is secure from automation and roboticization. Cheesemongers today meet consumers’ demand for specialty cheese along with context and information that allow the consumer greater enjoyment of the cheese. The danger to a cheesemonger’s job seems to me to come not so much from developing automation technologies, but from different sources, such as possible changes in how consumers obtain product information or changes in taste overall. Those considerations, though, answer an altogether different set of questions.
Works Cited
“5 Robots Now in Grocery Stores Provide a Preview of Retail Automation.” Robotics Business Review, 10 Apr. 2020, https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/retail-hospitality/5-robots-grocery-stores-now/.
“Asturian Cheese Caves, an underground food paradise.” Fascinating Spain, https://fascinatingspain.com/place-to-visit/what-to-see-in-asturias/asturian-cheese-caves/. Accessed 12 Nov. 2021.
Automation | Technology, Types, Rise, History, & Examples | Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/technology/automation. Accessed 4 Dec. 2021.
Bee — France — Marky’s Gourmet Store. https://www.markys.com/Cheese-and-Butter/Roquefort-Societe-Bee-France.html?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=export_feed&gclid=CjwKCAiAvriMBhAuEiwA8Cs5lWoZgE8_3RaMwlzYfJlqY2UUKIB-W_PfLM8T_7rMDxfXyELVwIU-UxoC3pQQAvD_BwE. Accessed 12 Nov. 2021.
“Cheese-Flipping Robots.” The Kid Should See This, 22 June 2012, https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/cheese-flipping-robots.
“Featured Cheesemonger: Stuart Mammel • Fromagination.” Fromagination, 2 Aug. 2019, https://fromagination.com/featured-cheesemonger-stuart-mammel/.
foodmanufacture.co.uk. “Dairy Industry Balances Automation and Tradition.” Foodmanufacture.Co.Uk, https://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2020/05/07/Dairy-industry-balances-automation-and-tradition. Accessed 3 Nov. 2021.
Foodservice, Saputo. How to Become an ACS Certified Cheese Professional®. https://yourbusiness.saputousafoodservice.com/posts/become-acs-certified-cheese-professional. Accessed 27 Oct. 2021.
“How I Became a Certified Cheese Professional.” Lunds & Byerlys, https://lundsandbyerlys.com/how-i-became-a-certified-cheese-professional/. Accessed 5 Dec. 2021.
“Hy-Vee Begins Test of Shelf-Scanning Robot.” Supermarket News, 23 Sept. 2021, https://www.supermarketnews.com/technology/hy-vee-begins-test-shelf-scanning-robot.
“I Am a Roboticist in a Cheese Factory.” Scientific American Blog Network, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/i-am-a-roboticist-in-a-cheese-factory/. Accessed 3 Nov. 2021.
“Morbier A.O.C.” The Cotswold Cheese Company Ltd, https://www.cotswoldcheese.com/products/morbier-a-o-c. Accessed 12 Nov. 2021.
Parmigiano Reggiano Rosse: Cheese From The Red Cows | GoNOMAD Travel. https://www.gonomad.com/92023-parmigiano-reggiano-cheese-from-red-cows. Accessed 12 Nov. 2021.
Petro, Greg. “Robots Take Retail.” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregpetro/2020/01/10/robots-take-retail/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2021.
Paper #2
Say Lay Paw
Dr. Kassorla
English 1102
1 December 2021
Future Robots Influence On Diagnostic Medical Sonographer
I head to the Northside Hospital Atlanta every morning around 9 AM. It’s about 40 minutes from my house. I have worked in the imaging department for a little over 3 years. My specialty is echocardiography. My workday varies from day-to-day. On some days, I work all day in the department imaging patients and some days I do inpatient imaging at the main hospital. First, I take a look at my schedule for the day and the patients’ files on the computer. After that, I get the ultrasound machines ready. Today, I performed the “Transthoracic Echocardiogram (TTE)” procedure on my first patient. After registering the patient, I began the procedure. I confirm his name and his birthdate. I then asked him to lie on his side facing me. I cover the chest of my patient with gel and use the transducer on it to see the image.
Throughout the exam, I ask my patient to change to a few positions so I take videos and pictures of the heart from different perspectives and angles. During the ultrasound scan, I ask my patient a few times if he is comfortable and doing okay. I take over fifty pictures and audio clips of the heart to make sure I get everything from every angle. The exam takes about forty minutes to complete. Once the ultrasound is completed, I lower the table and allow my patient to get dressed. My patient is now done and ready to meet with the doctor.
This is how I see myself in the next four to five years. The purpose of my research is to find out what impact artificial intelligence will have on my future career and how my future career may interact with robots. The following are my research questions: What will be the impacts of robotics on medical sonography? What role will Augmented Reality or 3D Printing play in medical imaging? Does a sonographer have a promising career outlook? Do I need to acquire any skills to be competitive in my future career? My primary area of research will be on the influence of robots and virtual reality in medical imaging.
In my research, I plan to incorporate peer-reviewed articles, videos, occupational handbooks, and online journals. I will first explore the Occupational Outlook Handbook to learn more about sonographers, their specialty, and their work responsibilities. This resource is important because it will provide me with the basic information I need for my research career and the job outlook for my future career. Then, I plan to look up a few videos to see a medical sonographer’s day-to-day work environment. Moreover, I intend to do some online research to see if robots and AI are having any influence on this career in the near future. I will be able to discover whether the sonographer profession is proof of robots by using research articles in my project. In addition, I plan on reading peer-reviewed articles about whether virtual reality is currently used in the imaging department and how effective it is.
A medical sonographer’s role in the imaging department is important because they produce images that doctors can use to diagnose patients’ conditions. They also write reports of findings and present them to the doctors to assist in the diagnosis of patients. This research project will allow me to determine if this occupation matches my interests and whether AI and robots will significantly influence it. I hope to know if I need to inquire about any skills to compete in this position and the future outlook of this profession. After I complete this research project, I will find out that artificial intelligence will play a role in transcribing images and setting up laboratory equipment in some instances. Also, I will find out how VR will be involved in the imaging department in the future.
Today, technology plays almost every role in our lives. It largely contributed to the growth of the workforce in the United States. Technology also plays a large role in mass production and in advancing medical technology. The majority of my research focuses on the impact robots and VI had or will have upon my future career, specifically on Diagnostic medical sonographers. This paper includes findings and discoveries of how this profession will be affected by sustainability, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and 3D printing. The first thing that came to mind when I began my research was what a medical sonographer really is. One of the first results of my search was a definition for “Diagnostic medical sonographer” from an occupational outlook handbook. What I saw first was:
Diagnostic medical sonographers specialize in creating images of the body’s organs and tissues. The images are known as sonograms or ultrasounds. Sonograms are often the first imaging tests performed when the disease is suspected. Diagnostic sonography uses high-frequency sound waves to produce images of the inside of the body.
Having defined the term “Medical Sonographer,” I moved on to looking at the job outlook. I discovered that this career is projected to grow fourteen percent from 2020 to 2030. The projected job opening each year is about 12,000. Some important skills needed in this profession are technical, detail orientated, and interpersonal. Advanced technical skills are very important in order to operate complex machines and equipment.
After finding the basic information, I moved on to analyzing how this career is impacted by sustainability. Healthcare facilities use mass-energy for a variety of operations and services. “Healthcare facilities are considered major energy consumers due to their need for reliable electricity and thermal energy supplies for heating, ventilation, lighting, air conditioning and the use of medical and non-medical equipment” (Franco). According to the author, the majority of the energy used in healthcare is nonrenewable, such as fossil fuels. This is due to their lower cost as well as a faster energy provider. Complex medical imaging machines and generators like X-rays and MRIs consume large amounts of electricity. According to the USAID online database, ultrasound and electrocardiograms use about 260 watts per day in hospitals. The data shows that sonography uses a medium amount of energy, as opposed to x-ray machines. Moving toward sustainable energy such as solar, wind, and hydropower will not affect this profession much, since it does not rely heavily on fossil fuels.
Then, I examined how augmented reality will impact sonography in the future. I found an interview with Matthias Noll, Deputy Head of the Visual Healthcare Technologies Competence Center. He discusses the potential of AR in ultrasound imaging. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD is working to produce an “AR Ultrasound” that will eliminate the use of monitors. Generally, sonographers use monitors to control and take images for diagnosis. AR Ultrasound will use AR glasses and headset to look directly inside the patients while performing imaging. “The AR system allows physicians to take a biopsy by displaying and aiming at the target area. AR visualization could be very effective for applications that must include external structures in the planning process” (Noll). This technology is likely to be used in sonography in the future.
After that, I explored how 3D printing contributes to imaging systems. 3D printing models are useful in imaging to help patients visually touch and feel the findings. According to Dr. Miller, “…one of the hospital’s ultrasound sonographers had the idea to make 3D printed ultrasound models of the baby’s face when completing a scan for a visually impaired mother.” This creates an amazing experience for blind parents to touch and feel their unborn baby. In imaging, 3D printing ultrasound models can also serve diagnostic purposes. Doctors can utilize the model to show patients what’s really going on in this body.
Finally, I researched the impact artificial intelligence is having on cardiovascular imaging and future robotics activities in sonography imaging. “AI has become a need in cardiac imaging with crucial practical applications such as automatic quantification, notification, diagnosis, and risk prediction” (Badano). This points out that AI technology will help sonographers with interpreting the images accurately and closely detect abnormalities. Additionally, AI will help sonographers to write reports for physicians on findings to aid diagnosis. I gain an understanding that Artificial intelligence will not replace sonographers anytime soon as this career involves specialist close interaction with patients. In addition, there are also risks to Al such as making incorrect findings.
In general, diagnostic medical sonographers hold an important position in medical imaging. As the aging population increases, there is more need for healthcare professionals to treat patients who experience pain or illness and need examinations. Sonographers are responsible for getting accurate images and findings for physicians to use for diagnosis. With technology advancing, 3D models, AI, and AR will have a major impact on the quality of diagnostics and interpreting images. The research above demonstrates that advanced technology will not replace this profession in the future anytime soon.
I began this research project because I wanted to find out if Diagnostic Medical Sonographer is proof of being taken over by robots in the future. The job involved scanning patients with ultrasound scanners and adjusting and maintaining imaging equipment. In the beginning, I had many questions, such as “What will be the impacts of robotics on medical sonography? What role will Augmented Reality or 3D Printing play in medical imaging? Does a sonographer have a promising career outlook?” I was also wondering if this profession was going to interact with robots and artificial intelligence.
When I started this research, I did not know this profession has a variety of types and specialties. I learned that this career is projected to grow faster than average. Through this research, I found that there are several paths in the medical sonography field. I discovered a variety of information on 3D printing, AR, and AI technology usage in this field. In addition to that, I was able to see how energy sustainability impacts medical imaging. This research opened my eyes to a variety of sonography jobs available in hospitals and in clinics. It led me to foresee the work environment and how I will interact with complex machines and technology in the future. The research information I found will help me prepare for this career and what to expect. It assures me that this profession will not be replaced by robots as sonographer need to interact with their patients during examinations for emotional support and assistance.
Using this information, I can foreshadow how this career will look like in the future. In addition, this research can help me decide whether I want to achieve my goal of becoming a diagnostic medical sonographer or choose another career pathway. After completing this project, I questioned whether my values and personality are suitable for this profession. The information I found keeps me interested in this field and makes me want to explore other sonography specialties. I learned the skills I need to acquire in this profession in order to be competitive. I began this project with the hypothesis that, “After I complete this research project, I will find out that artificial intelligence will play a role in transcribing images and setting up laboratory equipment in some instances.” I did find that AI technology will help sonographers with interpreting the images accurately and detecting abnormalities within the image. My hypothesis was partially correct. I discovered what I thought I would find such as VR assistance in imaging. However, I did find things that I was not expecting. I found out about the potential use of AR ultrasound with AR glasses in this field.
I say to my coworker, “I am so exhausted. I need a break.” I wave bye to my coworkers as I leave the imaging center. Since I have been working in this center for a few years, I have seen technology advance and how AI aids me in interpreting exam images closely in a short amount of time. As I drive home, I reflect on my day and how pleased I am with my career choices. Being in this field, I learned to handle complex equipment and learn to work with AI technology. There is something new to discover everyday. Despite being tired from handling machines and interacting with people all day, I find it very rewarding helping others find the cause of their health problems and helping them move towards a healthier lifestyle.
Works Cited
Badano, Luigi P., et al. “Artificial Intelligence and Cardiovascular Imaging: A Win-Win Combination.” Anatolian Journal of Cardiology / Anadolu Kardiyoloji Dergisi, vol. 24, no. 4, KARE Publishing, Oct. 2020, pp. 214–23. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.14744/AnatolJCardiol.2020.94491.
Franco, Andrea, et al. “A Review of Sustainable Energy Access and Technologies for Healthcare Facilities in the Global South.” Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, vol. 22, Aug. 2017, pp. 92–105. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2017.02.022.
Medical Sonographers and Cardiovascular Technologists and Technicians : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/diagnostic-medical-sonographers.htm. Accessed 7 Nov. 2021.
Noll, Matthias. Augmented Reality Ultrasound: Putting the Focus on Patients. https://www.medica-tradefair.com/en/News/Interviews/Previous_Interviews/Interviews_2020/Augmented_reality_ultrasound_putting_the_focus_on_patients. Accessed 26 Nov. 2021.
Saunders, Sarah. “Blind Parents ‘See’ Baby’s Face with 3D Printed Ultrasound Models.” 3DPrint.Com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing, 20 Aug. 2020, https://3dprint.com/271908/blind-parents-see-babys-face-with-3d-printed-ultrasound-models/.
