With many hospitals now operating at near or full capacity as a result of Covid-19, Japan has begun using hotels to house patients with light symptoms of the virus. These people with light symptoms are the most likely to unsuspectingly spread the virus onto other people, so it is important that they be isolated and treated as well. Employed in these repurposed hotels is a greeter by the name “Pepper”, a humanoid robot with facial recognition and the ability to identify human emotion through voice patterns.
We talked briefly in this class about artificial intelligence and its impacts, which this article ties right into. I commented on another article a few weeks ago that discussed the predicted acceleration in the rise of robots in the wake of the coronavirus, which is why I was also drawn to this article. It is interesting to see that Japan has already begun to employ robots in public places in an effort to reduce risk, and I think these will start to become a normal part of our lives from now on. I wonder to what extent the US will start to employ robots as well, especially with the current reopening of some non-essential businesses around the country. What do you guys think about this rise of robots?
https://bgr.com/2020/05/03/coronavirus-update-robot-greeter-pepper-japan-hotels/
I think it’s a very interesting concept to think about robots being created for the purpose of being involved in everyday life for some people. Reading about your article and Pepper the robot made me want to research more and see if there were any other robots out there helping with cover-19 right now. I came across an interesting article that talked about another robot named Violet. This robot was created in Dublin by a roboticist for a more social purpose. Violet goes into aging care centers and was created to decrease loneliness in patients living in the centers. Violet tells stories, sings, and gets involved in activities. To me, the creation of Violet seems like an amazing technological advancement that should be utilized especially now with social distancing rules and regulations.
Violet is also very special in that the robot has control of UV light. UV light can kill simple bacteria, which is what a virus is. UV can be harmful to people which the robot is aware of so it does not clean with the light when people are around. By using the light to clean surfaces it is sterilizing any germ that was there before. I think this is a great advancement and will be keeping my eye out in the future if more Violets are to come.
Source: https://time.com/5825860/coronavirus-robot/
I have always been the type of person that believes robots can help society as long as it is for the right cause. They can do jobs more efficiently and multitask potential actions that take a number of workers to complete. However, they also have drawbacks as too many robots can potentially take away jobs from people, which can lead to more problems economically. In this case, I do believe robots can be crucial during quarantine if programmed properly. They can allow certain workers to stay at home and out of hospitals, which would keep healthcare workers safe from the potential dangerous working conditions.
The article I found discusses my feelings from above. The coronavirus is speeding up the process of integrating robots, but in this instance it is to keep more workers at home and safe. Walmart, America’s biggest company, is “using robots to scrub floors of their stores.” South Korean robots are being programmed to be nurses and they now know how to “measure temperature and distribute hand sanitizer.” This is exactly what we talked about in class about how technology advances are coming and this virus is just speeding the process up.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52340651