COVID Robot Helps Keeps People 6 Feet Apart During Pandemic

Dec. 13, 2021 — A brand new robotic that may spot two or extra individuals standing inside 6 toes of one another might play an vital function in sustaining social distancing necessities throughout the present or a future pandemic.

The robotic situated, approached, and notified teams of two to 6 individuals who have been standing too close to one another to maneuver aside in early testing.

The COVID Surveillance robotic (CS-robot) discreetly makes use of an on-screen message to alert people who find themselves too shut collectively. The know-how, developed by University of Maryland researchers, additionally contains a thermal digicam that may assist detect somebody hotter than others who may need a fever. The robotic can then notify well being or safety personnel.

The research was printed Dec. 1 in PLOS One.

An Element of Surprise?

How the general public may react to a robotic referee stays unknown. “We have largely examined in our lab and buildings and some public occasions,” mentioned senior research writer Dinesh Manocha, PhD.

“Many instances, people are shocked once they see a robotic transferring round them or displaying such messages. Such form of robots haven’t been deployed broadly, so it’s laborious to guess public notion to make use of of such robots,” mentioned Manocha, a professor of pc science and electrical and pc engineering on the University of Maryland in College Park.

There are many issues to think about about how individuals would react, mentioned Bruce Hirsch, MD.

“I’m enthusiastic about what the psychology could be, what the sociology could be — what does it imply to be reprimanded by a robotic?” he mentioned.

“There is already depersonalization and burnout within the well being care setting, notably with the COVID epidemic. I do not know if a robotic could be perceived as useful and supportive,” mentioned Hirsh, an infectious illness physician at Northwell Health in Manhasset, NY.

Manocha, first writer Adarsh Jagan Sathyamoorthy, and their colleagues challenged the autonomous robotic in 5 eventualities in an indoor area that measured 4 meters by 4 meters (about 12 toes by 12 toes). They examined how nicely it discovered individuals, detected social breaches, and tracked individuals strolling or standing nonetheless.

The robotic additionally carried out in non-laboratory indoor settings equivalent to lobbies and slender corridors with completely different ranges of lighting, the researchers famous.

The research additionally in contrast efficiency of the robotic alone to the robotic plus enter from wall-mounted closed-circuit tv (CCTV) cameras. Although the robotic might detect and alert individuals who weren’t complying by itself, use of CCTV knowledge improved its efficiency in each state of affairs examined.

On the Move

The robotic can cowl any blind spots in CCTV protection by way of a “lawnmower technique,” the place it strikes to mounted areas and surveys its environment.

The robotic makes use of its cameras and sensors to “lock” onto an individual who isn’t social distancing to focus its motion. In a sequence of assessments, the CS-robot’s location precision was inside 0.3 meters, no matter whether or not the individual was strolling or standing nonetheless.

Interestingly, the robotic additionally considers time along with proximity. The engineers wished to keep away from flagging lower-risk conditions, equivalent to when two individuals move inside 6 toes for a second in a hallway.

The engineers additionally designed the robotic to get round potential obstacles, together with different individuals. Specifically, their Frozone collision avoidance technique, outlined in a earlier research, permits the robotic’s “red green blue-depth” (RGB-D) digicam to trace and predict the place individuals will transfer quickly.

The robotic prioritizes its actions to take care of bigger teams first and/or observe individuals in movement based mostly on their motion relative to the robotic.

People Remain Anonymous

Being approached or adopted by a robotic geared up with cameras might increase issues about privateness.

The researchers accounted for this with normal de-identification know-how equivalent to visible picture redaction for faces, gestures, and gait knowledge. And the visible digicam on the robotic assigns a random quantity as an identifier for every individual in a gaggle.

The robotic additionally reduces dangers for people. “Monitoring individuals’s temperatures remotely reduces the danger of the safety/well being care personnel contracting the coronavirus,” the authors famous.

Still a Role for Humans

Advantages of the robotic, Hirsch mentioned, included releasing up personnel from watching individuals. The know-how might additionally make monitoring extra strong.

But, he mentioned, “I’m older and I like individuals.”

Humans are nonetheless extra probably to assist with training — explaining why social distancing is vital — in addition to “studying sure conditions,” Hirsch mentioned.

He supplied the instance of an upset, crying individual in a hospital who simply misplaced a beloved one.

“Is a robotic going to strategy that particular person in a doubtlessly delicate second and ask them to maneuver 6 toes away from one other particular person or flip them in for added well being care monitoring?”

Moving Forward

Although solely examined indoors to this point, “we anticipate that robots can be utilized in indoor or out of doors settings the place people are available shut proximity,” Manocha mentioned.

The researchers may additionally strive different methods, moreover a display message, to alert individuals who aren’t distancing, equivalent to sounds or different warning indicators.

Manocha famous the robotic doesn’t distinguish between strangers and folks from the identical family. Also, the authors mentioned, “We have to develop higher human-robot interplay approaches.”

And the investigators need to research the social affect of the robots.

“We would additionally wish to develop strategies for detecting if the individuals within the robotic’s environment are carrying masks,” they famous.