Usage of indoor Service Robots during COVID-19 pandemic
Wake up call for Robot manufacturers
Finally, autonomous robots can cross the proof of concept line. At the time of need, like today during the COVID- 19 pandemic, we can see the service robots are in the field and help healthcare and hospitality businesses and stand strong as a real tool. Today, they are helping in real-life needs in critical situations.
Generally, the purpose of using robots is to automate the risky and repetitive tasks that can be low value or harmful to human operators. The number of these tasks in demand is growing. At the time of social distancing and COVID-19, we feel the limitation in performing many simple functions that can put us at risk of getting infected
In the hospital, the human assets are under heavy pressure, and the professionals in hospital wards are working under heavy risk of getting infected by the virus. Disinfection Robots are tools to help hospitals with minimum human administration and improve the disinfection process. The robots are following the disinfection protocols already in use by the healthcare system, and free up human assets for more critical tasks.
The current pandemic is the wakeup call for many robot manufacturers to look to the immediate needs of the market and address the growing demand.
Service Robots in Hospitality businesses after the current pandemic
Hotels and restaurants also can benefit from the service robots to maintain the social distancing of their staff with their guests. We need to rethink the operating model in hospitality. There is no guarantee that the current pandemic goes away soon, or we do not hit by another similar pandemic.
All restaurant operations and hotels are hit heavily, world-wide, by the pandemic. Especially they all have to reduce their staff to maintain social distancing.
Now, consider the change in consumer behavior. We can bank on increasing awareness of the population to protect themselves in crowded places. What is the remedy for service businesses like entire hospitality toward consumer behavior change? Automation is one of the key answers.
There are many automation points took place in hospitality, like ordering kiosks in quick service operation, or information kiosks in hotels. But that is not enough. Still, many people are not comfortable using these gadgets, and they do not have a human touch, and it does not necessarily protect the operators and maintaining social distancing.
Service robots in hotels, restaurants, and shopping malls can take over many of the tasks to overcome the staff shortage, social distancing, and the lack of human touch on a computer gadget.
There is an example during COVID-19 quarantine that the service robot takes over the task of face time between people in the care house and their relatives to maintain social distancing.
Service robots and health care during COVID-19
As the pandemic put heavy pressure on healthcare system operators, they need to use the new technologies to address this pressure. Using service robots and Artificial Intelligence can help the sector to improve efficiency, reduce the stress on human assets, and help them in decision making. However, I aim to discuss robots more than other technologies.
IT operators in healthcare still have to collect more information and deduct their experiences to evaluate the long-run effect of the use of technologies during the pandemic. The immediate result is showing the usage of service robots, and disinfection robots in hospitals had positive feedbacks.
The disinfection robots are not bringing new methods to the disinfection process. What they do is applying the existing disinfection protocols through autonomous robots and minimize human assets involvement. The disinfection methods used by the robots are Ultra Violet Disinfection (UVD) lights and spraying tools for disinfection liquids, like Hydro Peroxide Vapors (HPV).
The robots take the map of the premise, timing of the operation, and using implemented algorithm to avoid the collision, planning the route, performing the disinfection tasks, and return to the station for a recharge. And then repeat the tasks over and over as required and scheduled.
As per a study by the Institute of Medicine, many nurses were forced to spend time on non-nursing activities, and more than 30% of hospitals in the US reported that they could not find enough candidates to fill open clinical positions, and clinical turnover was almost 20%. This report shows a clear use-case of applying service robots and new technologies in healthcare operations.
How feasible the service robots can be for businesses
The traction of using healthcare robots is growing. When we see the medical staffer fall ill to the virus, the whole division goes to quarantine and add up more pressure to the other teams. Everyone knows that we have to protect the human first and reduce the risk of illness so that they can fight the fight on the front line. This case can bring the use-case of telemedicine to the forefront of the healthcare operation.
The feasibility of robots is one of the significant decision factors that managers consider to employ them. The current increasing demand for service robots, and the trend of price reduction in technology, in line with the growth in the manufacturing of robots, can be a triggering point to make robots more feasible. Though the market should not wait for the price to come down, as the need for employing the robots is immediate.
The concept of Robotics as a Service can be an encouragement for businesses to hire them. The cost of human resource is growing, and the cost of robots and financing are declining, and that can help the business to consider using them seriously.