IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2021 - 80

some people simply changed their schedules by postponing
their commitments for a few weeks. Other people
rushed to stockpile basic necessities and all sorts of merchandise.
The awareness that some practices would have
to change for a long time, maybe for good, struggled to
dawn on most of us. Moving many activities to virtual
and remote mode implied something dramatically different
than simply replicating how these activities used to be
" in person. "
This scenario produced an unexpected, significant acceleration
on the pervasive use of the wide variety of digital and
communication technologies, smart devices for the Internet
of Things, and the other most-advanced enabling technologies:
robots and intelligent machines [5]-[7].
Resorting to robots seemed to everybody, not only robotics
enthusiasts, the natural option to ensure safe interactions
and avert the risks of infection [8]. This full endorsement
from ordinary people fueled serious reflections within the
robotics community, including a renewed interest for a global
strategic orientation.
Over time, with the progressive diffusion of COVID-19
worldwide, robots found applications in responding to a
wide variety of challenges brought by the pandemic.
Robots are now involved in diagnosis, screening, disinfection,
surgery, telehealth, care, logistics, manufacturing, and
broader interpersonal problems unique to the lockdowns.
A recent, comprehensive review of such applications can
be found in [15]. For a further overview of the worldwide
activities in robotics related to COVID-19, readers may
refer to the works of Zhao et al. [16], Khamis et al. [17],
and Hager et al. [18].
However, in the very first days of the outbreak of
COVID-19, when it was not yet considered a pandemic and
the phenomenon in Europe was constrained to Italy, the
general reaction was a strong sense of responsibility, urging us
to put technologies at work to help in the many emergencies
that had to be faced. A true call of duty, further spurred by the
media, with popular newspapers asking pointed questions,
such as, " But where did they end up, these famous robots,
now that they are most needed? " [20].
The Italian community of roboticists from both research
and industry, united in their work at the Italian Institute of
Robotics and Intelligent Machines (I-RIM) (http://i-rim.it/
en), has responded to the challenge in a forceful manner.
First, for the purpose of discussing the immediate responses
and longer-term strategies, beginning on 26 March 2020 and
for the first several weeks, the community began meeting
weekly in a General Assembly to conduct daily videocalls
with dozens of participants.
During these meetings and in intensive parallel exchanges
in the community, different approaches to devising an emergency
response were pondered. There are plenty of lessons to
be learned from the past on top of which to build [1], while
not disregarding inspiration, which may come from visionary
literature [3]. A third, complementary approach that was
at the core of I-RIM's strategy was based on the recognition
that precious knowledge about the benefits and risks of
applying robotic solutions does not belong to roboticists
alone; rather, it is shared among many stakeholders and
interest groups [4]. A " community-driven approach " in the
field of robotics should cover multiple levels of citizens'
engagement: from raising awareness about what present-day
technology can do, to encouraging citizens to participate in
the technological process by observing, describing, and analyzing
how their living and working conditions have been
changing, right up to setting the robotics agenda and road
map for co-designing robotic solutions. It was felt that synergies
should be established at different levels, involving
6,000
Symptoms
Diagnosis
4,000
2,000
Feb.
263,883
Cases
Mar.
200,515
Recovered
Apr.May
35,930 (13.6%)
Deaths
(Case-Fatality Rate)
June
30,725
Cases of
Healthcare Workers
Figure 1. The cases of confirmed COVID-19 infection in Italy. The columns represent the cases by data of diagnosis (red) and by date of
symptom onset (blue). (Source: Istituto Superiore di Sanità [1].)
80 * IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE * DECEMBER 2021
July
59 Years
Median Age
Aug.
Sept.
2020
46.8% Males
53.2% Females
COVID-19 Cases

http://www.i-rim.it/en

IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - December 2021

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