Chulalongkorn University Engineers and Physicians Join Hands with AIS to Introduce 5G Enabled Robots to COVID-19 Treatment

Amid the COVID-19 situation, medical personnel caring closely for patients have been put at significant personal risk. The engineering and medical science faculties of Chulalongkorn University have joined hands with AIS to develop 5G and 4G technologies that extend physician capabilities by allowing them to utilize medical robots invented in Thailand. Prof. Dr. Viboon Sangveraphunsirr of the Faculty of Engineering of Chulalongkorn University and head of the Regional Center of Robotics Technology, Prof. Dr. Nijasri Charnnarong, Director of the Chulalongkorn Comprehensive Stroke Center and Prof. Dr. Supot Techaworasinsakul, Dean of Engineering at Chulalongkorn University were the first in Thailand to use the robot in monitoring and treating COVID-19 patients.

The medical robot was first conceptualized as an innovation to elevate medical service, allowing physicians to treat patients remotely and without physical contact through a telemedicine system installed in the robot facilitating distance treatment and guidance. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the development was adapted to help physicians and nurses care for patients suspected of contracting the virus while reducing risk of infection to themselves. The robot has been introduced to aid with COVID-19 treatment at three places, Rajvithi Hospital, Central Chest Institute of Thailand and Nopparat Rajathanee Hospital with plans for deployment at other facilities throughout the provinces.

Key qualities of the robot in its application with COVID-19 patients include:

  • Being a medium between physicians and patients or suspected patients, allowing for communication via high definition video conference and for physicians to assess or even give preliminary diagnoses of patients.
  • Physicians and nurses can remotely control the robots to follow up on patients without physical contact.
  • The robots can connect to vital sign measuring equipment such as blood pressure monitors, Electrocardiography machines (ECGs) and thermo-scanners, relaying information to physicians.
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