UST engineering faculty creates robot to aid in battle vs COVID-19
MANILA, Philippines — The engineering department of the University of Santo Tomas created a remote-controlled, wheeled robot allowing healthcare workers to communicate with coronavirus patients, reducing frontliners’ risk of infection.
The logistic indoor service assistant (LISA) robot is equipped with a tablet via which patients can communicate with medical staff through internet-based communication platforms such as Zoom, Viber and Facetime. The tablet is covered with plastic and is disinfected after use.
The robot’s remote controlled mobile base is capable of moving in different directions.
The robot also has a compartment box that allows delivery of medications.
“Doctors will no longer have to have contact. Siguro mga two to five meters away dun sa patients,” engineer Anthony James Bautista, the inventor of the robot, told ABS-CBN News Channel.
He added that the robot may also help in conserving the use of protective personal equipment.
The Department of Science and Technology requested for four units of LISA robot. A unit costs around P12,000.
Modifications
Bautista said his team was able to develop the robot in only five days. But the challenge for them was the lack of available components due to the implementation of enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.
“During these challenging times ng lockdown, level one automation lang muna ang ma-de-deliver namin which is remote controlled. Pero in the future, once everything stabilizes, magpapasok kami ng two levels of advanced automation,” Bautista said.
(During these challenging times, we were only able to deliver level one automation, which is remote-controlled. But in the future, once everything stabilizes, we will incorporate two levels of advanced automation.)
He also said they are eyeing to make the base of the robot four-wheeled so it can navigate even on slippery and uneven floors.
Bautista said the work on the four new robots is expected to begin on April 20.
“We are thinking of this to be a long-term project not only in this situation but also in the future,” he said.
Robots are being used in countries such as Thailand, Israel and China in the fight against the new coronavirus.
Nearly 5,000 people in the Philippines have been infected with COVID-19. Of the number, 315 have died, while 242 have recovered.
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