A canine mobile robot named Dr. Spot could advance medical treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing a new connection between isolated patients and doctors who need to see them.
The four-legged robot is designed to aid evaluations by allowing the dog machine with a video camera connected to a doctor to visit patients who need to be isolated, the New York Post reported.
“Early in the pandemic, we wanted to help protect healthcare workers from the virus by limiting their exposure to potentially COVID-infected patients,” said Giovanni Traverso, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the project. worked. .
“We wondered if we could do that by incorporating robotic systems into healthcare settings, and whether patients would be willing to work with robots during their evaluations,” he said.
In a new study published this month, Traverso and colleagues Peter Chai and Henwei Huang described how patients responded to medical assistance from robots.
“People are very positive and accept robotic healthcare systems, especially during the pandemic,” said Traverso.
Dr. Spot, a robot built to help doctors see patients without direct contact during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
The robot developed by MIT and Boston Dynamics can perform minor procedures such as assessing vital signs, taking nasal swabs and inserting intravenous catheters
The researchers conducted a nationwide survey of 1,000 people to analyze their views on receiving medical services from robots.
“We found that people across the country were willing to interact with robots, particularly systems that facilitate telecare and systems that facilitate the measurement of vital signs such as heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen levels,” said Traverso.
Giovanni Traverso is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who helped develop Dr. Spot
The researchers then teamed up with engineering and robotics design firm Boston Dynamics in nearby Waltham, Massachusetts, to help Dr. Spot to build.
Dr. Made of aluminum, plastic and printed circuit boards, Spot, like some robotic doctors, can perform minor procedures including assessing vital signs, taking nasal swabs, and inserting intravenous catheters.
“It takes a few months to build a robot,” said Marco da Silva, a lead robotics engineer at Boston Dynamic, which is owned by SoftBank Group Corp.
Boston Dynamics’ product offering starts at around $ 74,500, with the option of additional customizations that can cost more than $ 20,000 each, the website said.
Da Silva said it took another six weeks to build the specialized software and customizations needed to give Spot the ability to perform patient assessments.
Marco da Silva, a chief robotics engineer at Boston Dynamic who works at Dr. Spot project worked
Researchers suggested Dr. Spot for 40 patients in the emergency department of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
The team mounted an iPad on the base of Spot, which displayed a real-time person-to-person video that allowed doctors and nurses to conduct tele-health interviews with patients while operating the robot with a remote control.
The robo-doc’s advanced cameras and computer systems that can identify a face even when a patient is wearing a mask. It can also measure body temperature, breathing and heart rate and uses special lens filters to determine oxygen saturation in the blood.
People stand on the lawn outside Building 10 on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Boston Dynamics headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts. The robotics and engineering firm partnered with MIT to develop the Dr. Spot project to work
“Overall, patients in the emergency department have responded very positively to Dr. Spot, mainly because it reduces the risk of person-to-person exposure to COVID,” said Traverso.
More than 90 percent of patients reported that their interactions with the robot were satisfying and that they were willing to interact with more robotic systems, the study said.
“Robotics is already being used in hospitals to some extent,” said Traverso. “But in the setting of COVID-19, we see that robotic systems can really play an important role in healthcare based on the high acceptance of humans.”