IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2021 - 72

navigation capabilities in unstructured environments
and collaborative activities with health-care operators in
the clinical setting.

However, these measures require more health workers,
with a related risk of contagion in hospital settings, and
this could result in a further concern: since an infected
caregiver is a potential vehicle for virus dissemination, it
Managing a Pandemic
becomes clear that avoiding the risk of infection among
On 31 December 2019, a pneumonia of unknown cause health-care providers is paramount and that every effort
was detected in Wuhan, China. In a short time, the out- should be taken in this direction. Moreover, a sudden lack
break was declared a public health emergency of in - of medical staff due to illness would expose the health systernational concern. On tem to a critical overload. At the same time, robotics
11 February 2020, the researchers across the world have been thinking about how
World Health Organi- they could help. The most relevant robotics contributions
Robotics has shown huge
zation announced the in this direction are summarized in [2]. They can be
name of the new dis- grouped into three main categories: 1) patient-care robots,
potential for contributing
ease: COVID-19. Severe both inside and outside clinical settings; 2) automation
acute respiratory syn- solutions, especially for logistics; and 3) environment disto pandemic relief efforts
drome coronavirus has infection platforms. Figure 1 shows examples of the develaffected people world- oped robotics solutions.
and for improving
wide, causing more than
Advances in digital technologies have promoted the
440,000 deaths [1].
development of solutions for remote patient monitoring.
people's quality of life in
During the past sev- The COVID-19 pandemic is characterized by a very high
eral months, various contamination level; hence, it is becoming more and more
several scenarios.
solutions from the fields important to break the transmission chain by avoiding
of prevention, diagno- physical contact with people. It is worth observing that
sis, and treatment have health-care facilities could be sources of contamination
been considered for managing the pandemic. Although and that face-to-face contact between clinicians and
no specific treatment has been developed, the main solu- patients needs to be avoided. Therefore, examples of pretions seem to be preventive measurements, i.e., quaran- liminary COVID-19 diagnoses that were conducted
tines, social distancing, and hygienic precautions [1]. The remotely can be found in recent literature [3].
latter refers to both personal hygiene and surface disinfecInteractive robots have been introduced inside the
tion, which are pivotally important to minimize the risk hospital environment to assist health-care operators in
of contamination, especially in public environments, such different activities [4]. The Vici robot [5], for example,
as hospitals. Moreover, a fast diagnosis is crucial to limit developed by InTouch Health, has a high-definition
the diffusion of the virus, especially by asymptomatic peo- screen and camera that enable doctors and nurses to
ple, and the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT- assist patients via videoconferencing services, without
PCR) plays a fundamental role in the early identification physical contact. Ginger, another robot, welcomes
of affected subjects. For this reason, to date, more than incoming patients and visitors, monitoring some of their
4 million RT-PCR tests have been performed only in Italy. vital signs, including taking people's temperature using
the CloudMinds infrared thermometric system [6]. A challenging
application of robotic platforms inside
a real COVID treatment center is
reported in [7]. In Wuhan, a ward
was assisted by humanoid robots that
delivered food to noncritical patients.
Tommy [8] is a child-size, wheeled
robot used to monitor patients in
severe clinical conditions, measuring blood pressures and oxygen
saturations when patients are on
ventilators. Telepresence robots are
(a)
(b)
(c)
becoming an effective tool for
health-care operators treating highFigure 1. An overview of robotic platforms to assist with the COVID-19 response. (a)
Patient care robots, including Vici [5], Ginger [6], and Tommy [8]. (b) Logistics robots,
ly infectious patients, such as those
including the fixed-wing drone Zipling [9] and the Hercules autonomous vehicle [10].
with COVID-19.
(c) Disinfecting robots, including the one commercialized by UVD Robots [12] and the
Automation and robotic solutions
prototype equipped with ultraviolet-C lights in [13]. (Sources: [5]-[6], [8]-[10], [12]-[13];
used with permission.)
for delivery services and handling
72

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

MARCH 2021

IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - March 2021