Will Robots Be The New ‘Normal’ After The Pandemic?

As hospitals and market places struggle to adjust to the changes that have been brought by the pandemic, the industry is looking at using robots to minimize risk for their staff. Are robots going to be the face of the service industry after the pandemic?

This picture taken on April 16, 2020 shows an Indonesian technician (L) listening a robot known as Amy during a simulation on assisting medical teams in handling COVID-19 coronavirus patients at the Pertamina Jaya hospital in Jakarta. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP)

New Delhi: The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc around the world and stretched the resources especially in the healthcare of almost every country. Having enough manpower is also not enough, as each one of us is susceptible to the virus. This has led service industries to test robots for doing work that will help personnel to minimize the risk of getting infected. According to experts, there is no doubt that the pandemic is going to change the future of our lifestyle. A study published on April 14 by researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has said that social distancing can continue until 2022. How will workplaces especially where person to person contact unavoidable going to function? Robotics might be a possible alternative. But is the future here already? Hospitals and robots The virus has created conditions in which traditional caregiving has become dangerous for the staff itself. A study published in a journal by US body Centre for Disease Control said that the soles of medical staff shoes might function as carriers of the virus as the nasal and oral droplets from patients may fall to the floor causing an accumulation of virus on the floor. Though cases of coronavirus seem to be reduced in most countries, it is far from over and hospitals continue to feel the pressure. In India, several hospitals have started testing robots to do tasks such as dispensing food and medicine. This minimizes the exposure of hospital workers who across the world are succumbing to the virus, simply because their work is getting them closer to the virus. Last week, a hospital in Kochi deployed a robot to carry food and medicines. According to a report by the leading daily Times of India (TOI), the robot has been developed by a start-up Asimov Robotics based in Kochi. The three-wheeled robots named Karmi Bot comes with a nozzle to spray disinfectant, cabinets to carry masks, supplies, and even food. The developers said that the robots have been customized for Covid-19 wards and it even allows patients to video call family members. Similarly, a private hospital in Bengaluru where are testing robots for initial screening of patients. A report by India Today says that the robots Mitra and Mitri robots will screen people entering the hospitals using five questions. If they are cleared as a Non-COVID risk, they will be allowed to enter or else video call will be used to consult a doctor along with an appointment for a later date. Durgapur-based CSIR lab, Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, has also developed a robotic device HCARD (Hospital Care Assistive Robotic Device). The robot is controlled remotely, and doctors can interact with the patients without being in the same room.  The All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is also mulling over the use of humanoid robots for contactless monitoring of Covid-19 patients. Robots for sanitation During the lockdown along with many healthcare and essential goods suppliers, sanitary workers have also been working daily. In the current situation, their work also makes them susceptible to possible sources of the virus. The potential of cleaning robots becomes huge in the wake of the pandemic especially since research shows that the virus is capable of surviving on surfaces such as metal, plastic, and even cardboard. According to a report by IANS, the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) will start using the Robotic Ultraviolet Machine (RUVM) for the sanitization of closed spaces like hospitals. The robot which has been developed by a start-up Avishkar will work remotely through an app with a range of 200 meters to use in sanitization work in hospitals and closed offices and it will be used for sterilizing rooms and equipment in minutes. Similarly, the All India Ins AIIMS is also planning to use a Floor Robot which looks like the Roomba robot for sanitation purposes. The report by Times of India said that it will help in cleaning up specific spaces without much human contact. Supermarket and hotels As social distancing has become a norm, areas that attract crowds necessitate the use of technology for safety. Supermarkets in Germany and the United States where cases of coronavirus are steep and the latter has even become the global epicentre, robots have been deployed in stores. In the US, a supermarket in Washington DC has used a six robot fleet to help deliver purchases. According to a report by the IANS, the robots resemble a portable refrigerator with six wheels, and they deliver the orders their customers make through a mobile application in one hour. At present, the store offers services to a customer residing with a mile. In Germany, a semi-humanoid robot called Pepper created by a Japanese firm SoftBank Robotics was placed in a supermarket to educate customers over precautions to be taken to fight COVID-19. Pepper is also being used in Tokyo for hotels that are housing Covid-19 patients. Since it is a talking robot it will assist patients with information of precaution and help to uplift the mood. So, will the robots take our jobs? Are we heading to a dystopia where machines take over like what science-fiction films warnned us about? Not just yet. The usage of robots is not new, most of our work has become dependent on robots and Artificial Intelligence. But the pandemic has just raised the need for increasing the number of machines especially in any type of service industry. Most robots that are being utilised at present require a human for functioning properly. Self-aware robots (which is the dream of most robotic firms) is still far off. Even the most humanoid robot Sophia that mimic human expression functions on a software that is like a chatbot. Until then robots have become an important supplementary tool for our work. The pandemic has just made the need more urgent.