China has been leading the way for months creating robots to help combat the COVID-19 outbreak. Their latest invention coming from Hong Kong is a robot that helps disinfect subway cars. This robot works alongside scheduled workers that also regularly disinfect subways. It sprays a hydrogen peroxide solution around the cars and is supposed to be able to reach “hard to get” places that regular workers often miss. In Hong Kong, schools and most businesses have been closed since late January. The successful social distancing combined with the rapid generation of new technology has helped Hong Kong keep their number of cases under 200.

The use of robots in US hospitals is something that is coming very soon, if not here already. Robots in China are being used to free up the time of medical staff and reduce human interaction for simple tasks such as delivering food and taking temperatures. Thermal screening devices allow all patients’ temperatures to be monitored at once in a large database, which has been allowing hospitals to accommodate people more efficiently. I was unable to find any articles about the use of these robots in US hospitals, however I’m sure this will start to surface very soon.

https://qz.com/1816762/coronavirus-hong-kongs-mtr-subway-uses-robot-to-disinfect-trains/

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/23/video-hospital-in-china-where-covid-19-patients-treated-by-robots.html