Brazil ranks first when it comes to the deaths of nurses by Covid-19. An alternative, in addition to the care pointed out by the WHO, is artificial intelligence.
Six researchers from the Mobile Robotics Laboratory of the Institute of Mathematical and Computer Sciences (ICMC) at USP, in São Carlos (SP), created the prototype of an autonomous robot that serves to help healthcare professionals who are overloaded with work by pandemic caused by the coronavirus. The robot will support the distribution of medicines and food to sick patients in hospitals and, in addition to reducing the workload, the contact between health professionals and people with Covid-19 will also be reduced.
The first thing the robot must do is map the environment in which it will travel, in theory only once. Then he travels the path that must be carried out later, autonomously, collecting data from the environment, using sensors, and building a map of the location. After this map is created, the robot must then be able to identify which position the map is in, establishing a relationship between what the sensors are picking up (what the robot is seeing) and what it recognizes from the environment (map). Given that the robot is able to locate itself on this map, it is possible to choose any point in the environment and the robot will be able to trace a route to reach the chosen point, respecting the areas that are not navigable
The group is looking for specialized health partners who can help the team better understand the demands of those on the frontline of fighting the coronavirus and adjust the project. They say that the ideal would be a partner that could both put them in contact with hospitals and invest in assembling more robots. As everyone is from the computing area, they need people with other skills to present the project to investors and anyone else who can help.
The estimate is that, with all the resources at hand, it would take about two months of work to have a functional prototype ready.
The unit cost of the first version of the robot was around R $ 17 thousand, considering the parts used for the construction of the chassis, which is the base of the equipment, the sensors and the fairing, which is the part placed on top of the base, and it can be a flat surface or a storage chest. On a large scale, this cost would certainly be reduced significantly.
Source: UOL
