Using Technology to Help Fight the Corona-virus

In an article from Fox News’s John Brandon, a company in China that produces the iRobot is using this new robot to help stop the spread of this deadly Corona Virus within Wuhan, China. These robots are being used to help bring medicine to patients that have already been diagnosed or are in quarantine. The Chinese government has leaned towards the use of these robots to reduce the number of humans that come into contact with someone who is infected with the virus. Other uses for these robots range from being able to disinfect public areas, to doing tasks that normal humans would find to be repetitive and would reduce the risk for mistake because of fatigue of tedious tasks.

One thing that worries me is that who is programming these robots and what are the chances that someone would be able to hack these machines and use them to spread the virus instead of help quarantine it?

Is there a way to monitor who has access and control to these robots without fully taking a product away from a company and having complete government control of it?

 

Source: Brandon, J. (2020, February 14). Coronavirus-battling robots deployed to help fight deadly outbreak in China. Retrieved from https://www.foxnews.com/tech/coronavirus-battling-robots-deployed-help-fight-deadly-outbreak-china

2 thoughts on “Using Technology to Help Fight the Corona-virus

  1. This is an extremely interesting article that just goes to show how much technology is transforming all kinds of industries around the world. I have not been steadily keeping up with the virus statistics, but have read and heard of a few cases on how China’s fight to aid those ill has resulted in more deaths due to contact. The development and deployment of these robots in turn could be largely beneficial to reduce the amount of contact medical professionals have with sick patients in order to keep them healthy and able to continue to aid others. Many doctors and nurses due to contact were being diagnosed with the virus and passing after just trying to do their job and help treat diagnosed patients.
    While researching some more into the robots that distribute medications to quarantined patients, I found an article called “How China has turned to tech like never before to combat the coronavirus”, written by Tracy Qu and Jane Zhang, that also mentioned the deployment of another robot that uses UV light to kill bacteria within hospitals, specifically in Wuhan. It only takes the robot three minutes to be perform its sanitizing process. This article also discussed how technology is not just being used within the hospitals but also for daily functionality for all individuals within China. Many villages have been utilizing drone technology to get their groceries transported to them to avoid contact and online retailers have been in heavy demand due to the outbreak. The progressive steps that China has taken with developing new technologies to contain the coronavirus could potentially, in the future, benefit their way of life and developing markets.

    Source: https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3051587/how-china-has-turned-tech-never-combat-coronavirus

  2. I have not read into depths of the contamination and spreading process of this disease, but this is certainly a very efficient way in order to handle an ordeal like this. Removal of the human element is certain smart and I also do share your concerns. I am in a SRA class and one of the major things that we do is asses risk. Having a device that is traveling to go deliver a treatment or returning from doing so could in some way carry this virus, and if is hacked in some way could be lead towards healthy people. It is hard to think that some people are are capable and willing to do this, but that fact of the matter is that there are and we need to vigilant in or threat assessment when it comes to using hackable technology. The companies surely understand the stakes that they are dealing with in these situation and I am sure are meticulously keeping track of all robots that come in contact with patients.

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