Novel Coronavirus is spreading like a forest fire all over the world. In its quest, it is affecting the medical staff providing restless care to COVID-19 patients as well. Keeping the security of the health workers in mind it is the time to seek help from the robots. Spot, the Boston Dynamics robot, famous for its appearance in football, is now in the battle against the virus. With a recent blogpost, Boston Dynamics announced the successful use of Spot in a hospital. Also, they have announced their next agenda and their step against COVID-19.
Boston Dynamics has shared the initial work deploying robot with Bringham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusets. They have also open-sourced the hardware and the software designs involved with the robot. If you are interested to see their code, here is a link to the GitHub repository.
Overview of the solution
Boston Dynamics re-purposed their robot Spot for taking the healthcare staff out of the range of COVID-19 patients. The medical teams are using Spot as a mobile telemedicine platform to cure the patients with Coronavirus. Boston Dynamics are listening to the feedback from the staff of Brigham and Women’s Hospital to improvise the robot.
Medical staff can control Spot via an iPad exchanging signals with the two-way radio mounted on the robot’s back. This also allows the medics to video chat with the patients. Thus, by reducing direct exposure to potentially affected patients the medical staff are being less prone to the virus. This helps to keep the medical department healthy during the crucial pandemic time.
Future Plans of Boston Dynamics
The next agenda of Boston Dynamics is to figure out how to remotely measure some key parameters –
- Patient’s body temperature
- Repository Rate
- Pulse Rate
- Oxygen Saturation
and other important parameters for doctors and other medical staff. They are also planning to use UV-C light or similar technology to disinfect surfaces.
We at Android Fist are extremely grateful to all the people helping directly and indirectly to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Don’t forget to wash your hands. And stay home, stay safe.
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