Progress in robotics for combating infectious diseases.

Journal: Science robotics
Published Date: Mar 31, 2021

Abstract

The world was unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, and recovery is likely to be a long process. Robots have long been heralded to take on dangerous, dull, and dirty jobs, often in environments that are unsuitable for humans. Could robots be used to fight future pandemics? We review the fundamental requirements for robotics for infectious disease management and outline how robotic technologies can be used in different scenarios, including disease prevention and monitoring, clinical care, laboratory automation, logistics, and maintenance of socioeconomic activities. We also address some of the open challenges for developing advanced robots that are application oriented, reliable, safe, and rapidly deployable when needed. Last, we look at the ethical use of robots and call for globally sustained efforts in order for robots to be ready for future outbreaks.

Authors

  • Anzhu Gao
    Institute of Medical Robotics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, P.R. China.
  • Robin R Murphy
    Guang-Zhong Yang is the Founding Editor of Science Robotics and a Professor and the Dean of the Institute of Medical Robotics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. Email: gzyang@sjtu.edu.cn.
  • Weidong Chen
    School of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, 230031, China.
  • Giulio Dagnino
    Department of Advanced Robotics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa, Italy.
  • Peer Fischer
  • Maximiliano G Gutierrez
    Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK.
  • Dennis Kundrat
    Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
  • Bradley J Nelson
  • Naveen Shamsudhin
    Multi-Scale Robotics Lab, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Hao Su
    1 Department of Urology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China.
  • Jingen Xia
    Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Center of Respiratory Medicine, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, 100029 Beijing, China.
  • Ajmal Zemmar
    Department of Neurosurgery, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Henan University People's Hospital, Henan University School of Medicine, 7 Weiwu Road, 450000 Zhengzhou, China.
  • Dandan Zhang
    College of Mathematics, Physics and Information Engineering, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China.
  • Chen Wang
    Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
  • Guang-Zhong Yang
    Institute of Medical Robotics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. dgunning@fb.com gzyang@sjtu.edu.cn.

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