Since March, there are many areas that have changed because of COVID19. Going to a restaurant, the adoption of telemedicine, changes in retail shopping. These are all areas where robots are helping the fight against COVID.
Traditionally robots are used in the manufacturing sector. Since the deployment of 5G speeds is coming, robots are rapidly being tested in other sectors. Specifically, the service and medical sectors.
Boston Dynamics stated that they have seen surges in demand for robots that can do dull, dangerous, and dirty tasks. If you have don’t know who Boston Dynamics is, they just offered their robotic dog for sale to the public for $74,500. I’m not sure how these robots are helping the fight against COVID. Maybe as a therapy dog, but demand is up.
Robots in the Medical field
Robots are being deployed to disinfect hallways and rooms in hospitals. This frees humans to do more value-added work. These are more sophisticated than your Roomba, and your cat can’t ride it.
Some robots are being used to deliver meals to patients. They are also being used in dispensing medicine to patients. This helps cut down the interaction between nurses and infected patients.
Other types of robots are being fitted with medical devices that doctors can use to monitor patient conditions remotely. Imagine a robot taking your temperature, blood pressure, and other vitals without seeing a doctor or nurse. Some robots are being used to monitor patients from their homes and provide monitoring.
A firm in Thailand is working on developing an electronic nose for detecting breast cancer and microneedles for blood sugar testing. They are also working on developing a robot that can take swabs from your nose to test for the coronavirus.
Robots are being used as receptionists for patient intake. When you check-in, you provide patient information to the robot and the robot does the rest. Since the robot has access to a scheduling software, it can deliver the patient where they need to be.
Terra Drone is delivering infectious samples to labs for testing. This is being tested in China. Terra Drone states that there has been a 50% reduction in the time it takes for delivery vs. road transportation.
Amazon is testing their six-wheeled delivery robot called scout in Irvine, California. Obviously, it is designed to deliver Amazon goods and is being partnered with an Amazon ambassador who makes sure it doesn’t run into things or people. Given that Amazon owns Wholefoods, one can imagine they will begin delivering groceries to quarantined people very soon.
In some countries, robots are being used to provide public service announcements about social distancing and enforcing quarantines. In other countries, they are being used to take the public’s temperatures. We are getting closer to Robocop every day.
As always, it’s an honor to serve you, and I hope this helps you and your organization get a little better today.
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