GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th May, 2020) ENOA, Italy, May 15 (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko - The Italian robotics industry has done its share in the country's fight against coronavirus and, among other initiatives, has made available affordable robots, which were created based on the model of an intelligent vacuum cleaner and now help COVID-19 patients communicate with their relatives, Antonio Bicchi, the president of the Italian Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines (I-RIM), told Sputnik.
"When it comes to a natural disaster, like an earthquake or an epidemic, a pandemic as we have now, then people that are aware of the research that we do, they ask, where are the robots? Can they not help us now? This very question was the same that I asked myself at the beginning of this emergency and that the whole Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines was involved in," Bicchi, who is also a professor at the University of Pisa and a senior researcher at the Italian Institute of Technology, based in Genoa, said.
Therefore, the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines decided to turn to the hospitals and collect their needs and then try to assist with so-called "low-hanging fruits," or simple robots that had already been available in big numbers for use in everyday life.
"They told us, look, a big problem we have is that patients are isolated from their families for a long time, they are hospitalized with symptoms of COVID-19 and then they are isolated for two weeks or more before coming back, and in some cases they do not come back and others cannot even say goodbye when they unfortunately pass away, families cannot speak to them. So this was something that they wanted us help with," Bicchi said.
As a result, the Italian Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines together with the Maker Faire innovations showcase organizer began the initiative, dubbed Tech For Care, to connect the real needs of medical staff with the possibilities that technology offers.
"We have several projects there, some for ventilators, some for making masks, some for other applications. But I would make one example that I know well, which is an example of a robot that is designed for connecting patients with their relatives. This robot is built with materials that are available on the internet," Bicchi said.
He added that the company had developed the necessary software and was providing it for free so that anyone could assemble such robots.
"You can buy through e-commerce and any group of people can get those components and put them together using a new software that we provide for free and build the telepresence robots that can be driven in the COVID areas for making patients talk to the outer world without exposing staff to contagion," he said.
The researcher explained that the prototype for this new simple robot was a vacuum cleaner that has "quite some intelligence inside" and can move around, avoiding obstacles and corners, and build maps.
"So what we did is we modified the software and built the new software in order to put on top of these vacuum cleaners cameras and displays so that the robot becomes a telepresence robot. It looks like a vacuum cleaner with a stand and it has one or two tablets there. The first one for showing the face of the patient and the second one to drive the robot around," Bicchi said.
Such robots have been used in hospitals in Pisa and Massa-Carrara. Moreover, some of the producers have already started making replicas. The fact that the software is provided for free by I-RIM and that the hardware can be assembled with materials available for purchase online has made these robots very affordable. One costs between 1,000 and 1,200 Euros ($1,080-1,300).
"The whole idea is not to make another telepresence robot, there are telepresence robots. The only problem is that these telepresence robots are not available in big numbers. So with this one the difference is that anybody can build one and have it used even in their hospital. For instance, there is a small city in Lombardy and they have taken the design, they have implemented it, actually, they have improved it because it's a local design. ... We hope that the volunteer spirit of this initiative will make better robots available for people," Bicchi said.
The National Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines of Italy is a non-profit organization with the purpose to promote the development and practice of these technologies to improve peoples' quality of life and well-being.
Italy is among the countries that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus in the world. The wave of contamination in Italy has already ebbed, and since May 4, the country has entered the so-called Phase Two of the emergency, or a gradual return to normal life.
