Boston Dynamics Spot Robot is Helping Hospitals Remotely Treat Coronavirus Patients

Robot maker Boston Dynamics announced Thursday that its quadruped robot Spot is already in use at a Boston hospital to help with coronavirus treatment. The company now has ambitious plans to expand the use of its robots to help healthcare workers during the pandemic, and is also open to obtaining the hardware and software it is using so that other hospitals and robot manufacturers can follow its lead. example.

The hospital, Harvard University’s Brigham And Women’s Hospital, has been using a Spot unit since last week for remote screening of patients suspected of having COVID-19. Boston Dynamics, which was previously owned by Google and is now owned by Japanese communications giant SoftBank, is currently implementing Spot as a telemedicine machine. Use a custom stand and case for an iPad or similarly sized screen that will be used for video conferencing between doctors and other healthcare workers and their patients.

“Today marks the second week of Spot’s presence at a local Boston hospital, Brigham and Women’s, where the robot is being deployed as a mobile telemedicine platform, allowing healthcare providers to classify patients remotely, “the company says in a statement. “We are listening to your comments on how Spot can do more, but your reports encourage us that using the robot has helped your nursing staff minimize time exposed to potentially contagious patients.”

Photo: Boston Dynamics

Telemedicine, in the context of the coronavirus, is about reducing contact between healthcare workers and those who can transmit COVID-19. The overall concept is simple: By reducing exposure of healthcare workers through the use of robots and other remote means of communication, you can keep those best equipped to fight the pandemic safe and ensure that they can continue to do that important work. In this particular case, the Spot robot carries an iPad, as well as a two-way radio, and broadcasts a doctor’s live broadcast in real time.

“With current protocols in local hospitals, patients suspected of having COVID-19 are asked to line up in tents outside to answer questions and get initial temperature assessments. This process requires up to five members of the medical staff, which puts these people at high risk of contracting the virus, “explains Boston Dynamics.” By using a mobile robot, hospitals can reduce the number of medical staff required in the scene and keep your limited supply of EPP. “

But using the iPad and two-way radio means that doctors “can talk to patients from afar, possibly even from their own homes.” For every shift a Spot robot takes, says Boston Dynamics, at least one healthcare worker can reduce his potential interaction with a positive COVID patient.

To better assist other healthcare workers and companies in a position to provide telemedicine or robotic support, Boston Dynamics is releasing all the files that do their current Spot setup role.

“With the deployment of our first healthcare-focused robot, we are open-source all of our work to power any mobile robotics platform to take advantage of the same hardware and software stack we have developed to help healthcare workers From first line”. He says. “None of the services … depends on Boston Dynamics hardware or software. In many cases, we imagine that wheeled or tracked robots may be a better solution for these applications. “

Photo: Boston Dynamics

Boston Dynamics says it does not intend to stop at telemedicine. Instead, the company is looking for ways to make its Spot robots even more vital assets in the fight against COVID-19. The company is now actively investigating remote life inspection, so Spot robots can perform tasks such as temperature controls and respiratory rate calculations using thermal camera technology. “

We have also applied externally developed logic to externally mounted RGB cameras to capture the change in blood vessel contraction to measure pulse rate, “the company says.” We are evaluating methods to measure oxygen saturation. ”

Later, the company is investigating whether its Spot robots can become tools for disinfecting areas such as public transport centers and hospital areas or coronavirus triage tents with ultraviolet light. While this has been done before, and as Recently, like last month, to fight coronavirus in some Chinese hospitals using machines from the Danish company UVD Robots, doing it on the scale necessary to fight COVID-19 in public spaces would be unprecedented. Boston Dynamics says it is still far from figuring out the best way to try this.