The
covid-19 pandemic is pushing human bodies- and human ingenuity - to their
limits. As patients flood emergency departments and health-care workers
struggle to respond, an international group of robotic experts is making a case
for some electronic intervention.
In
an editorial in the journal Science Robotics, they argue that covid-19 could
drive new developments in robotics — and that the devices could help with more
effective diagnosis, screening and patient care.
If
the thought of robotic assistants sounds futuristic, it isn’t: Robots already
have been enlisted in the fight against the virus. In Hong Kong, a fleet of
miniature robots disinfects the city’s subways; in China, an entire field
hospital was staffed by robots designed to relieve overworked health-care
workers.
In
the United States, robots played a role in the country’s first known case of
covid-19. One outfitted with a stethoscope and a microphone was used with a
35-year-old man in Everett, Wash., who was confined to an isolated unit after
showing symptoms of the coronavirus. He later made a full recovery.
One
of the medical robots is modified to screen and observe coronavirus patients at
the Regional Center of Robotics Technology at Chulalongkorn University in
Bangkok.
Already,
robots are seen being deployed for disinfection, delivering medications and
food, measuring vital signs, and assisting border controls.
They
identify plenty of other ways to use robots in the pandemic response. Robots
could assist with testing and screening; already, researchers have created a
device that can identify a suitable vein and perform a blood draw. Or they
could take over hospital disinfection entirely, providing continuous
sterilization of high-touch areas with UV light.
The
researchers hope covid-19 will catalyze robotics research for the sake of
public health. But it isn’t as simple as pressing a power button: It will take
a significant investment for specialized robots to hit the market in time to
save lives.
The
field has been down this road before. After the 2015 Ebola outbreak,
opportunities were identified. Implementation, however, remains limited.
“Without
sustained research efforts robots will, once again, not be ready for the next
incident,” they warn.
A
Guest Editorial
