The Essential Guide to Droids (Page 32-33)
Medical: FX Medical Assistant
[edit]Now obsolete, Medtech Industries' FX series was developed to serve as a nursing assistant for organic physicians. While a doctor intently lasers open an ailing patient’s chest cavity, the FX unit administers anesthesia, monitors vital signs, and hands over scalpels and sponges. But the skyrocketing success of all-in-one surgeon droids, including Genetech's 2-1B, cut the legs out from under the medical aide market.
The FX droids, standing 1.7 meters tall, were designed for maximum utility. Cylindrical and essentially symmetrical on all sides, they bear no resemblance to the standard humanoid form. Mobility was not a key concern for Medtech's conceptual engineers—if a standard FX needs to get from one place to another, it has to be physically dragged.
Folded close against the body are twenty precise manipulator arms on a rotating base. Some are tipped with grippers, some with medical tools, and all can be customized to suit a particular task or surgical procedure. The limbs are lightweight and quite fragile, but since FXs are rarely subjected to rough conditions, this is not a significant drawback. When not in use, each arm lies flat in its protective torso groove.
Just above the delicate appendages is the droid’s primary grasping arm. This telescoping limb is much stronger than the rest and is used for heavier, everyday work. It can extend nearly one meter.
The FX’s head can rotate 360 degrees and is fitted with visual sensors and other scanning devices. The limited vocoder is capable of communicating only in droid or computer languages. Several monitor screens on the head and upper body can display printed information in Basic, or show charts, graphs, and schematics.
All FXs have an analytical computer and a respectable medical diagnostic package. If their scomp-link port is connected to a surgeon droid or a hospital mainframe, the FX operates with a much shorter lag time.
FXs are good droids—during their entire production run, Medtech Industries received astonishingly few complaints. But Too-Onebees and the newer Emdees are superior in almost every respect. FX units lacked the intelligence and the hardware to compete, and Medtech refitted the line years ago. They are still common, however, on thousands of planets throughout the Expansion Region and Outer Rim, and the cash-strapped Rebel Alliance was quite fond of the droids.
With the proper programming, Effexes make superior bacta-tank operators; despite their antiquity, many are owned by the Xucphra and Zaltin bacta conglomerates on Thyferra.
Info Boxes
[edit]Front View
[edit]- Monitor Screen
- Droid Language Vocoder
- Scomp-link Port
- Medical Diagnostic Sensors
- Analysis Processors
- Fine Manipulator Arm (extended)
- Protective Storage Groove
- Arm Rotator Base
- Stationary Base
- Telescoping Grasping Arm
- Control Board Manipulator (exchangeable for hypodermic injector)
- Medicine/Anesthesia Dispensing Hose
Fine Manipulator Arm (Detail)
[edit]- Front View
- Side View