The novel coronavirus has
set off as a global health crisis and spread like a wildfire outside China with
the sharp jump in infections in 125 countries and territories around the world.
It has put millions of people under quarantine lockdown. Amid the outbreak of
COVID-19 Li Wenliang widely regarded as a hero in China for blowing the whistle
on the threat was unfortunately infected with the coronavirus during his work
in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic. The epidemic is in full swing.
Health authorities are frantically trying to deal with the risk but the lines
to separate the sections of health-care workers are vulnerable. The patients
must be isolated to prevent spread, but the biggest challenge is for the
doctors and nurses to prevent themselves from communicable diseases. More than
80,000 people infected were health-care workers as more cells are getting
infected through the respiratory tract. The highest priority for health
officials is to reduce the risk of person-to-person transmission. This has
raised concerns about its severity impact. There is no proven cure yet, the
only key is to prevent its pandemic.
In the wake of global
health contagions, the robots are being deployed at various hospitals across
the globe. Robotic medicine may be the weapon the world needs to combat the
coronavirus. Among several measures, the automation driven health care
technologies can assist in battling the disease. The hospitals across the globe
are rushing to deploy robots and automation technology as the coronavirus
spread like wildfire. Confirming a suspected infection in laboratories can take
days so doctors are relying on Artificial Intelligence to detect coronavirus
with cameras equipped with thermal sensors. Although WHO is sending surgical
masks and gloves to hospitals in more than 50 countries and stringent emergency
measures are passed by the government, but the number of infections jumped
high. Meanwhile, the hospital and public health facilities are using the
Artificial Intelligence system to predict people’s temperatures and perform
real-time temperature checks with a smartphone and thermal sensor. In the
battle against Covid-19, emerging technologies have stood out by making massive
commitments in an unforeseen, imaginative and incredibly responsive way. Since
1974 researchers have been developing the technology to incorporate robotics
into medical applications. In recent years robotics technology has emerged as a
promising arena in medical sciences. The outbreak of coronavirus declared a
global pandemic pushed hospitals to deploy robots that are not biometric or
temperature analysis sensors, but it asks four questions in a screening, like
“Do you have a cough?” A UV emitting robots are installed in more than 500
hospitals across the globe to destroy germs and bacteria of coronavirus. While
another UV robot called GermFalcon annihilate germs. Hospitals in the U.S.
installed Vici, a device that looks like a tablet on wheels, enabled doctors to
interact with the first U.S. coronavirus patient. When the hospitals are
overwhelmed, patients become too numerous to be quarantined, robots are being
used in hospitals to deliver food, medication, take patients’ temperatures. To
minimize the infection of coronavirus to health workers’ robotics are being
used to sanitize hospitals, some of which use ultraviolet to clean air and
respirator helmets to purify the air. UVD Robots is among the first providers
of mobile robots that use ultraviolet light to disinfect rooms. In Taiwan
students at an elementary education are using an automated disinfectant
dispenser called Lego Robots to prevent the epidemic. The key to combat
coronavirus is contact surveillance and robotic medicine may be the weapon the
world needs. The deployment of robotic facilities at hospitals in China has shown
a substantial upturn. In India corona cases are reported in Delhi NCR, followed
by Kerala, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh. The
total number of coronavirus infected patients have climbed to 78 in India.
However, in most of the Indian hospitals, the uptake of robots has been
relatively slow. In a developing country like India, while we are witnessing
increase instances of robots being used for laparoscopic surgery, cardiac
surgery, automated pharma, etc. robotic screening and robotic nursing as a
concept still need a familiarization. The outbreak of coronavirus has invoked
the need for robots in hospitals as it can assist with more complex tasks and
disinfection. The coming years will see robotics technologies with even less
human intervention to combat pandemic diseases.
