Help has arrived at the Circolo hospital in Varese, Italy. Six child-sized robots with large blinking eyes are now at work in some of the wards with the sickest patients. One of the robots bears the nickname “Tommy.” It’s named for the son of the hospital’s intensive care unit head of staff.
The robots attend to patients who are ill with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Medical staff can take breaks and keep a safe distance now, thanks to these never-tiring machines. The robots relay vital information about patients from other machines that read statistics such as a patient’s pulse, breathing rate, blood pressure, temperature, and oxygen saturation level.
If a patient experiences a change signaling a worsening condition, then the robot alerts staff. Doctors or nurses will come quickly to the patient’s aid in that situation.
In addition to keeping caregivers safe, hospital employees also hope that the little robots will help the suffering feel less alone.
Elsewhere in other hospitals, robots fill a variety of roles to assist with the added workload that the virus has brought—and to reduce the risk of infection for human workers. A widespread shortage of PPE—personal protection equipment—for medical staff means that many hospitals are disinfecting and reusing N95 masks, plastic face shields, and plastic clothing. Baptist Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, put a robot to work sanitizing that PPE for reuse. Human sanitation workers would have to wear their own PPE to do the same job safely.
And with lockdowns in place around the world, some countries have given robots duties to remind citizens of the importance of staying safe at home. This allows civil servants such as police officers to remain distant and protect themselves.
For example, authorities in Tunisia, a country in North Africa, deputized robots and deployed them into the streets. These “police bots” are actually remote-controlled vehicles. Tunisia closed schools, universities, and restaurants. Tunisians are to stay home except for necessities. The remote-controlled machines approach and scold roaming residents with questions such as, “Are you aware of the lockdown?” A video on social media shows one robot ordering a man to complete his errand and “Go home. Hurry up!”
In Lindlar, Germany, friendlier robots stand outside grocery stores, informing customers of safe distancing practices around others in the store. It’s another way that human creativity and inventiveness are working to care for the community.
(“Tommy,” the nurse robot, in a hospital corridor in Varese, Italy. Reuters)
