Book chapter
Telepresence robots for healthy ageing
Digital Methods and Tools to Support Healthy Ageing, pp.301-322
Institution of Engineering and Technology
2021
Abstract
Researchers have been investigating the use of robots in the world for elderly in various types of applications, such as communication with relatives and friends at a distance, transportation of medical supplies and equipment across healthcare/aged care facilities, surgical procedures etc. In China, ground zero of the COVID-19 outbreak, robots are being used in hospitals to deliver food and medication and take patients' temperatures. Drones are deployed to transport supplies, spray disinfectants and do thermal imaging. This paper will focus on telepresence robots that have become critically important to perform remote healthcare operations, complying with social distancing measures. UNSW and University of Sunshine Coast have been partners in the European Union VictoryaHome (VH) project (2014-2016) that involved Australia and EU countries Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and Portugal. The project was aimed at better emotional health of the elderly and their security at home. The project identified some major problems, such as the high cost of the robot and its high complexity, making its adoption difficult. This led to the project “Robots for Elderly” as part of the new “Robots for Elderly” project (involving Australia, China, Bangladesh and EU) in mHealth for Belt and Road (mHBR) Initiative led by the UM-SJTU Joint Institute in China from 2018.
The aim of this study is to design, implement and test a low-cost telepresence robot for healthcare. The focus has been on implementing a low-cost telepresence robot for healthcare management for the elderly during pandemics like COVID-19.
This project uses an innovative, multi-disciplinary collaboration across disciplines (software, electronics engineering, mechatronics and public health) involving young university talents from these fields.
According to preliminary customer feedback, the main functions have already been realized by our robot. The cost is approx. $500, about 20 times less expensive than the Giraff robot used in the VH project.
Many groups all over the world have been trying to develop low-cost robots for various applications. We addressed the needs for the healthcare of elderly, most affected by the COVID-19 and came up with a simple low-cost design of telepresence robot that can be deployed widely in hospitals and aged care establishments. The system is currently in a prototype level and will require an entrepreneur to commercialize it in large scale.
Details
- Title
- Telepresence robots for healthy ageing
- Authors
- Chongdan Pan (Author) - Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityMingzhong Wang (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringPradeep Ray (Author) - Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- Contributors
- Pradeep Kumar Ray (Editor) - Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversitySiaw-Teng Liaw (Author) - WHO Collaborating Centre on eHealthJ Artur Serrano (Editor) - Norwegian University of Science and Technology
- Publication details
- Digital Methods and Tools to Support Healthy Ageing, pp.301-322
- Publisher
- Institution of Engineering and Technology
- Date published
- 2021
- DOI
- 10.1049/pbhe039e_ch16; 10.1049/PBHE039E
- ISBN
- 9781839534638
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99649176902621
- Output Type
- Book chapter
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