United with Israel
Mentored by engineers from the Technion, Israel’s leading technology university, a high school robotics team in Haifa produced a robot to deliver equipment, medicine and food and help protect hospital medical staff from COVID-19.
By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel
The robotics club at a Haifa high school has teamed up with engineers at the world-class Technion-Israeli Institute of Technology and developed a robot that will help medical workers keep their distance from coronavirus-infected patients.
Dubbed the “COROBOT,” the remote control service trolley allows medicine and food to be delivered to patients without another person present, driving right up to the patient’s bed and complete with a computer tablet to allow two-way communication.
The robot was tested last week, showing officials at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center how it can be also be used to carry equipment to the coronavirus isolation ward to the protective rooms. Like with a remote control car, an operator uses a radio control device to steer the robot.
As of last week, almost 3,000 medical staff at Israel’s hospitals were in mandatory isolation after being exposed to somebody carrying the coronavirus. That total included 631 doctors, 1,023 nurses and 1,220 other medical staff, including lab technicians, orderlies and others. Although the country has tens of thousands of medical workers, health officials are worried that continued exposure to infected patients will put too many people into protective quarantine.
The head of Rambam, Dr. Michael Halberthal, mentioned the problem of protecting staff from infection as they perform routine tasks during a meeting with colleague Dr. Rafi Beyar, a former director of the hospital and a professor of biomedical engineering at the Technion, Israel’s equivalent of MIT, Walla! News reported. Beyar suggested offering the challenge to the Galaxia robotics program at Haifa’s Reali High School, where students are mentored by Technion engineers.
“Rambam requested we help them reduce the danger to their medical teams who are working in coronavirus departments by using a robot that could replaced a team member to perform simple tasks like bringing medicine, food and medical equipment,” said Technion Professor Gil Yudilevitch, who knew that the high school’s robotics team participated in several robot competitions and had a core group of bright and capable students.
The students realized they needed something sturdy, maneuverable, bottom-heavy and able to get in between hospital beds.
The prototype was demonstrated at the hospital, where “the doctors fell in love with the robot and wanted to continue working with it,” Yudilevitch said.
The high school robotics program “is a team that can program very quickly and make it happen very quickly,” said the group’s supervisor, Tirza Hochberg. “If there is the need, we can produce several dozens of these robots in Israel.”
“It’s a very proud privilege to be working with such a talented group of youth, and and even bigger privilege helping the people who are at the front of the [coronavirus] struggle,” said Roi Yudilevitch, the professor’s son and one of the team advisers.
shutterstock_152856233
URGENT: Help Israelis Fight Coronavirus!
Donate to the Israel Coronavirus Relief Fund. The deadly virus is surging in Israel. While all Israelis are affected, the poor, elderly and seriously ill are highly at risk.
Israeli soldiers, security officers and medical care providers are in danger. At this time, Coronavirus poses a greater threat to Israel than acts of terror.
在以色列领先的科技大学Technion的工程师的指导下，海法的一个高中机器人团队生产了一个机器人，用于运送设备，药品和食品，并帮助保护医院医务人员免受COVID-19的伤害。
亚基·本西恩（Yakir Benzion）与以色列联合
海法高中的机器人俱乐部与世界一流的以色列以色列理工学院的工程师合作，开发了一种机器人，该机器人将帮助医务工作者与感染冠状病毒的患者保持距离。
远程服务推车被称为“ COROBOT”，可在没有其他人在场的情况下将药物和食物输送给患者，直接驶向患者的病床，并配有平板电脑以实现双向通讯。
上周对该机器人进行了测试，向海法的Rambam医学中心的官员展示了如何将其用于将设备运送至冠状病毒隔离病房并进入防护室。就像遥控车一样，操作员使用无线电控制设备来操纵机器人。
截至上周，以色列医院的近3,000名医务人员在接触携带冠状病毒的人员后被强制隔离。该总数包括631名医生，1,023名护士和1,220名其他医疗人员，包括实验室技术人员，命令人员和其他人员。尽管该国有成千上万的医务人员，但卫生官员担心持续接触受感染的患者会使过多的人进入隔离检疫。
Rambam的负责人Michael Halberthal博士在与同事，医院前主任，以色列Technion生物医学工程教授Rafi Beyar博士会面时提到了保护员工免受日常感染的问题。相当于麻省理工学院的瓦拉！新闻报道。 Beyar建议向海法Reali高中的Galaxia机器人计划提出挑战，该计划由Technion工程师指导学生。
Technion教授吉尔·尤迪列维奇（Gil Yudilevitch）表示：“兰巴姆要求我们通过使用机器人代替机器人来执行简单的任务，例如携带药品，食品和医疗设备，从而帮助他们减少在冠状病毒科工作的医疗团队的危险。”知道高中的机器人团队参加了几次机器人比赛，并且有一群聪明又能干的学生。
学生意识到他们需要坚固，可操纵，沉重的东西并且能够在病床之间穿行。
Yudilevitch说，该原型在医院进行了展示，“那里的医生爱上了机器人，并希望继续使用它。”
该小组的主管Tirza Hochberg说，高中机器人计划“是一个可以非常迅速地编程并使之迅速完成的团队。” “如果有需要，我们可以在以色列生产数十台这样的机器人。”
“与这样一支才华横溢的青年团队一起工作是一种非常荣幸的特权，甚至更大的特权是帮助处于[冠状病毒]前沿的人们奋斗，”该教授的儿子兼团队之一Roi Yudilevitch说。顾问。
shutterstock_152856233
紧急：帮助以色列人抵抗冠状病毒！
捐赠给以色列冠状病毒救助基金会。致命病毒在以色列激增。尽管所有以色列人都受到影响，但贫困，老年人和重病的人处于高度危险之中。
以色列士兵，安全人员和医疗服务提供者处于危险之中。此时，冠状病毒对以色列的威胁要大于恐怖行为。