The Yuck Factor is best explained with an example. Suppose you pull off a panel to begin working on some network equipment, and you find a dead rodent. That would be a YF = 7. Other discoveries like multiple rodents - or their time of death - might raise the number. If on the other hand you discovered a cute puppy, very much alive and thrilled to see you, that wouldn’t even register on the YF gage. You get the idea.
The dictionary uses a less potable example – "water recycling is problematic even aside from the yuck factor of drinking purified sewage." For me, this would be YF = 10. To each his own.
Yuck Factors are useful in understanding current technology trends, particularly in the medical field. One of the primary vital signs for human wellness is blood pressure, traditionally measured by a sphygmomanometer. Invented by Samuel Siegfried Karl Ritter von Basch in 1881, its name is derived from the Greek for “pulse” followed by the French for “pressure meter.” A practical device was developed by Scipione Riva-Rocci in 1896, and later introduced in the US by pioneering neurosurgeon Dr. Harvey Cushing.
For as long as I can remember, any visit to a doctor began with measurements of my weight, height and blood pressure. The latter was accomplished by a medical professional using an inflatable cuff around my upper arm combined with a stethoscope pressed to the inside of my forearm.
By the early 2000’s, coronary artery disease had become entrenched as the number one cause of death worldwide, and blood pressure was recognized as a key metric for early detection and prevention. In order to make it easier for folks to track their BP, blood pressure kiosks began appearing in pharmacies and other public locations. Curiosity about the machine more than my blood pressure led me to try one. I sat down and slid my arm into a plastic cylinder, pressing the start button once properly aligned. The machine began to hum and its grip on my upper arm continued to tighten. I had no idea how to stop it, or how tight it would get. My blood pressure rose just thinking about it. Since that day, I’ve never used one of those kiosks. Yuck Factor = 5.
My wife and I have two adult children – a son and a daughter. Our daughter is a registered nurse and during her training, she was required to find willing subjects on which to practice her IV catheter insertion skills. Once she had poked her way through most of her fellow nursing students, she turned to me as her next “guinea pig.” We set things up on the dining room table, and once we were through, we noticed that neither my wife nor my son was anywhere in sight. The insertion of sharp objects into the human body has a very high YF for both of them. Perhaps because I was in the capable hands of a trusted family member, and had a sense of control over the process, it seemed like no big deal.
But technology, as always, continues to stumble onward. Nearly a quarter of a billion IV catheters are placed each year in the US, and more than a fourth of those fail on the first attempt. Children are an even tougher target. So-called failed sticks can cause permanent scarring or nerve damage. The solution? - HaemoBot, the IV catheter insertion robot.
In the early stages of development, the device uses a sophisticated automatic infrared vein finding system. For now, a human has full control of the actual insertion via a haptic joystick. The developers claim that the robot can perform many motions at a level of precision that cannot be achieved by human practitioners. Still, a machine would be sticking a needle into my strapped-down arm. Yuck Factor = 8.
The natural question to ask before consenting to any medical procedure is “Is it safe?.” Movie buffs may recall this key line from Marathon Man. In the film, Laurence Olivier (as a Nazi dentist) tortures Dustin Hoffman (a naive history student) with a dental drill. As the drill grinds on and Hoffman squirms in the chair, he is repeatedly asked “Is it safe?”, while having no idea what “It” refers to. Although the film was a box office success, it failed to win the endorsement of the American Dental Association.
Even with a highly trained professional wielding the drill, most of us don’t relish our visits to the dentist. Dental technology, from the Boston company Perceptive, is helping with a new scanner which uses optical coherence tomography to build a 3D volumetric model of teeth, gums and the nerves underneath the tooth surface. Harmful X-Ray radiation is eliminated, and the system currently detects cavities with 90% accuracy. Better data should enable better treatment. So far, so good.
Why not take this detailed data set, feed it to an AI-enabled robot, and automate the entire treatment process? Perceptive has done just that - their machine recently completed an entire dental procedure on a human patient about 8 times faster than a human dentist could do it. The company aims for better precision, higher efficiency, less patient fatigue and reduced chair time through fully automated dental care. Although the goal is to reduce the Yuck Factor of going to the dentist, I predict that will take some time.
It's inevitable. Robotics Engineers and AI Scientists will continue to seek ways of automating - and ostensibly improving - procedures which require detailed data, expert interpretation, and precision movements. The medical and dental fields are fertile ground for their work. The question on all our minds, regardless of what Yuck Factor we eventually assign to the newest technology....
“Is it safe?”
Author Profile - Paul W. Smith - leader, educator, technologist, writer - has a lifelong interest in the countless ways that technology changes the course of our journey through life. In addition to being a regular contributor to NetworkDataPedia, he maintains the website Technology for the Journey and occasionally writes for Blogcritics. Paul has over 50 years of experience in research and advanced development for companies ranging from small startups to industry leaders. His other passion is teaching - he is a former Adjunct Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Paul holds a doctorate in Applied Mechanics from the California Institute of Technology, as well as Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
