Inside the mission of the AIS ROBOTIC LAB team to build 5G robots to help doctors for taking care of COVID-19 patients

Achieve purposes by solving pain points: reducing risks, reducing physical contact, protecting the medical team, and delivering to the hospital

Promote "Real 5G for all lives" for reinventing and creating New Normal for the medical profession

  • AIS moves forward with the mission "AIS 5G Combating COVID-19" in full strength by bringing the 5G power to solve the crisis and help Thais in every region with opening the path for the AIS ROBOTIC LAB team, the first 5G robot development and the only one in Thailand, who is behind the work of the 5G robot, the first assistant doctor in the country, which has successfully connected the operating system on the 5G network. These successes are due to the capability of the top team from AIS NEXT, which is an innovation department that is committed to designing the 5G Robot Platform by combining technology, network, medical and becoming a 5G ROBOT FOR CARE medical robot that can be Customized to fulfill the work of each hospital as well.
  • The robot has been delivered to many hospitals, including Chulalongkorn Hospital, Rajavithi Hospital, Siriraj Hospital, Ramathibodi Hospital, Siriraj Piyamahakarun Hospital, Bamrasnaradura Institute, and Department of Naval Medicine, by robot went to work at the clinic and the ward of COVID-19. The robot is qualified for taking care and monitoring the symptoms in the patient room alternatively of doctors and nurses, which helps to reduce the load, reduce the risk, reduce the physical contact, and save the doctors and nurses. The AIS ROBOTIC LAB team is currently accelerating the development of 5G robots at full capability and projects to deliver a total of 23 units to 22 hospitals by the beginning of May 2020.
  • Promote "Real 5G for all lives", reinventing and creating a new normal for the medical community, with the potential of 5G to be applied as a fundamental and necessary digital network for medical operations, which is recognized to create a clear and real 5G user experience by bringing 5G to help save Thias's lives for the better and get through this crisis together.

Mr. Wasit Wattanasap, Head of Nationwide Operations and Support Department, AIS, said "As AIS announced its vision by using the potential of the powerful 5G network and the expertise of AIS to join support and help solve the COVID-19 problem to help Thais and our country to get through this crisis. Today, we have funded in the power of the 5G network as well as assembling researchers and experts with AIS's robot development experience, including establishing a special team of AIS ROBOTIC LAB by AIS NEXT to develop a medical robot by working on 5G network to create real medical benefits.

As we all know, the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus has caused medical personnel to work hard as a responsibility to cope and face the risk of contracting the virus directly. On the other hand, the hospital is still confronting difficulties in lacking medical equipment and protective equipment such as face masks, PPE hygienic protective clothing, which are essential equipment for the duty of all doctors.

The question of the AIS ROBOTIC LAB team in robot development, therefore, starts with the Pain Point on how to be able to help reduce the load, reduce the risk of infection for both patients and medical personnel, and hold the function which FIT IN to help the medical team with more convenient, faster, and safer, as well as save budget using in hygienic protection equipment.

AIS ROBOTIC LAB brought a variation of advanced technologies to combine with the 5G network under the AIS Robot Platform, which AIS has developed by itself, designed as a robot helper for 5G doctor "ROBOT FOR CARE" with the following smart features:

  • Infrared technology: accurately measure body temperature by transferring data via 5G network to doctors immediately.
  • 3D Mapping technology: map the robot's path to move automatically towards the patient instantly and accurately, and can control the robot as needed via the 5G network.
  • Telemedicine: A video consultation system for doctors and patients via video call to allow doctors outside the room to use smart devices to connect to the robot to talk to and see the patient's symptoms in the room, helping to avoid getting into contact with or close to the patient directly.
  • Cloud computing technology: for data processing, storage, and treatment of patients.

Besides, it can also add features in the robot as required by each hospital, such as blood oxygen measurement, sending medication to patients in bed, mobile service for alcohol gel to hands washing, etc.

The center of the robot is the operation on the 5G network for processing in many parts, such as the temperature and face signature of the subject being taken and transferred via the 5G to the AIS DATA CENTER, capable of making video calls from The control center appears to the robot to provide various assistance to the worker, and able to update new capabilities to the robot from the control center automatically.

When working on the high-speed AIS 5G network, the response to the requirements with low latency can support IoT Connectivity devices, which makes the robot able to work in patient care immediately, including the data that transfer between doctors and robots to response much fast and effective, moreover meeting the needs and be a part of medical care.

In the future, the AIS ROBOTIC LAB team will prepare to develop and expand the capabilities of the robot to support a broader range of medical services such as:

Control the robot to work via sound, Self-cleaning via Ozone and UV. With the ability to recognize tracks and face recognition, the robot will be able to do other tasks, such as patient visits, guiding patients to various departments, including the world of IoT and 5G that will have each other's contact with multiple devices. Data from robots and measuring devices at the hospital or Wearable will be processed together, such as if any irregularity occurs, this can be identified by measuring equipment of robots that can come to visit the bed immediately, etc.

AIS has experience in testing 5G in various industries, including medicine. Therefore, we believe that 5G is very suitable to be applied as an essential digital network for medical operations, and will be a part of one of the steps to solve the problem and lead the country to overcome the crisis of COVID-19. We are gratified to have the opportunity to bring the potential of technology to deliver help to Thais and recognized as a construction a real experience 5G to reinvent and create New Normal to happen within the medical profession in Thailand in the future." Mr. Wasit said. 

Dr. Sukrom Cheecharern, Deputy Director of Rajavithi Hospital, which tests and treats patients with COVID-19, said, "The ROBOT FOR CARE can help reduce the contact between infected patients with medical staff in three main points, in terms of reducing the inconvenience of using protective equipment at the hospital, facing a lack such as a mask and a PPE suit, which robots can enter for initial measurements instead, besides in reducing risk and helping to support social spacing measures to reduce close contact with healthcare professionals, and also help deliver medication to patients at the bed precisely by only setting coordinates or controlling from a distance. However, patients can also contact us immediately if they have questions about taking medication via robot camera."

Asst. Prof. Opass Putcharoen, Head of Clinical Emerging Disease Center King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, said, "To monitor and observe COVID-19 patients continuously is extremely important to prevent the symptoms falling and treating the symptoms on time. Anything that the medical team and medicine take consistently is to check the temperature regularly, so the ROBOT FOR CARE can help to work at the appropriate point. The hospital has been used to monitor the symptoms of COVID-19 patients, both the measurement of blood temperature and oxygen levels, which is accurate and helps the treatment to be effective."

Assoc. Prof. Cherdchai Nopmaneejumruslers, Vice Director of Siriraj Hospital, said, "For Siriraj Hospital, the essential point is the screening for at-risk patients, which the number of patients who reaches to receive treatment is increasing; therefore, it is a significant issue that the hospital will support the patients during the test to prevent the transmission of disease to medical personnel or between doctors to patients and patients to patients themselves. Accordingly, using the 5G Telemedicine robot will help screen and expand the distance according to reduce the risk of transmission, which is not only used during this crisis but in the future in providing these kinds of services to patients. Telemedicine is acknowledged as useful and enhances health care efficiency for people, encouraging people to access medical care without needing to come to the hospital. Owning a stable network signal, fast data transmission, and a clear image will improve treatment with the accuracy and enhance the capacity of doctors and public health institutions."

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