{Robotics scientists nationwide are pondering an intriguing possibility: Might robotic technologies deployed in rescue and disaster situations be quickly repurposed to help contain the Ebola epidemic?}
A robot that could perform even some of the tasks of a human, such as waste removal or the burial of bodies, would have significant lifesaving potential. So, with the assistance of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, scientists are planning a series of brainstorming meetings. The first round will be held Nov. 7 at four locations: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Massachusetts; Texas A&M; the University of California, Berkeley; and in Washington.
The problem, scientists say, is that the technology is still limited when it comes to medicine. While mobile robots now can disarm roadside bombs and drive cars, they are taking only the first tentative steps toward the human levels of dexterity required in health care.
“You see the situation that the medical teams are facing, and I don’t even know if a robot is a solution,” said Taskin Padir, an assistant professor of robotics engineering at Worcester Polytechnic and an organizer of one of the meetings.
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The White House is now considering how robots can help fight Ebola. A look at the role three types of robots could play in combating the virus. Video by Carrie Halperin on Publish Date October 22, 2014.
Still, he has been considering ways to repurpose an existing robot project as a tool for more safely performing decontamination tasks, like spraying bleach solution on clothing exposed to infected body fluids.
“As was the case in Fukushima, the Ebola crisis in Africa has revealed a significant gap between robot capabilities and what is needed in the realm of disaster relief and humanitarian assistance,” said Gill A. Pratt, a roboticist who is a program manager at the federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. “We have a moral obligation to try and select, adapt and apply available technology where it can help, but we must also appreciate the difficulty of the problem.”
Many of the countries experiencing the worst of the Ebola epidemic are in no position to deploy robots. But rudimentary models are widely used in medical settings in the United States, and already nervous hospital administrators are reaching out to manufacturers.
The phone has been ringing continually in recent weeks, said Yulun Wang, the chief executive of InTouch Health, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based maker of telepresence robots used in hospitals for stroke diagnosis and other medical tasks.
Clients like Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and Baylor University Hospital are asking whether the robots can be used to help diagnose Ebola infection, without a human present, or to facilitate virtual family visits for patients in isolation.
“They acquired our solutions for a very different purpose, and now they are wondering whether they are applicable for Ebola care,” Mr. Wang said.
NYT
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