Technological Low Hanging Fruits Involved in Combating the COVID 19 Pandemic

Abstract

This contribution describes some activities promoted by a group of roboticists from Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia and Università di Pisa in response to the pandemic. In particular, a “do-it-yourself” (DIY) open-source service and related hardware/products will be illustrated to help combat some consequences of the Covid 19 emergency. The project was born to facilitate communication between patients isolated in Covid 19 hospitals’ ward and their relatives. The teleoperated robot named LHF Connect can move autonomously around the hospital. Once it arrives at each patient's bed, it can provide a video call between patients and their relatives or friends outside the isolated hospital ward. In this scenario, the robot is piloted by a volunteer operator working from home or in a safe room inside the hospital. The teleoperator will guide LHF Connect toward each patient's bed using a laptop or a smartphone. LHF Connect is an open-source platform that leverages mature robotics technologies designed to be easily reproducible even in extreme conditions such as lockdown situations. The platform was reproduced during the first pandemic outbreak in Europe by other people independently, and it has been tested by medical staff in real scenarios and isolated Covid 19 departments.