"Dr. Moe, Dr. Larry, Dr. Zoltar 6000..."

It appears the National Institute of Health (NIH) is teaming with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture and Defense (through DARPA) to fund small business and academic research relating to robotics. Specifically, the announcement calls for:

"research directed towards innovations or advancements in robotic technologies and devices for: Robotics for Home Healthcare, Personalized Care for Special-needs Populations, and Robotic Wellness/Health Promotion; Robot-Assisted Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Behavioral Therapy; High-throughput Robotics Technologies; Better Than Biology Actuators; Patient Mobility and Rehabilitation Robotics; Dexterous Manipulators with Tactile Feedback; Multi-Agent Command, Coordination, and Communication; Robotic Co-Worker Assistive Technologies"

This probably falls under the "pass it and we'll learn what's in it" genius comment by Der Sprecher but for all you doubting Thomases who thought the Health Care Bill was going to create a serious loss of health care providers, you need not worry cause we're gettin' robots!

This has been tried before: