TCM and technology merge on Portuguese campus

Suzana Carvalho, a resident in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, stood before a robot that looked like a sleek vending unit.

Five minutes later, she smiled, holding a steaming cup of herbal beverage tailored to improve her health condition after accepting a brief scan and answering the robot's list of questions.

"It's incredible," Carvalho said. "I've always been curious about traditional Chinese medicine, but I didn't expect it to be so advanced."

This health consultation took place on April 17 at the Instituto Universitario Egas Moniz in Lisbon, where medical professionals from China and Portugal, faculty, and students gathered to witness the robot's debut on the campus.

The robot was jointly developed by the Macau University of Science and Technology and the Guangdong Provincial Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine, South China.