Wuhan Coronavirus Hospital Ward Staffed Only by Robots

Rumors of a hospital ward in Wuhan, China, has opened and that operates fully thanks to robots are circulating on news outlets such as the Global Times. As Wuhan is the epicenter of the quickly spreading coronavirus outbreak, it is crucial that the spread of the virus is contained. 

The program that began on Saturday supposedly consists of 12 sets of 5G-enabled intelligent robots that operate 24/7 in the Wuchang field hospital. 

SEE ALSO: 5 MILLION PEOPLE ALREADY LEFT CORONAVIRUS-INFECTED WUHAN BEFORE IMPOSED TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

Helping out medical workers

The main cause of pushing this program forward is to help overworked medical workers in Wuhan. Moreover, as more than 3,000 medics across Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, have been infected with the coronavirus, this news may be welcomed with open arms in China. 

CloudMinds has shipped 5G Cloud Robots to hospitals in Wuhan and Shanghai to aid the fight against the coronavirus. The bots carry out tasks including taking patients’ temperatures, delivering meals and disinfecting the facility. pic.twitter.com/Y3iMGoZTEy

— YaTwitt (@YaTwitt3) March 11, 2020

The six types of different robots were donated by CloudMinds to the hospital. CloudMinds operates out of Beijing and is a cloud intelligent robot operator. 

These 12 sets of robots can offer assistance in the form of security, inspection, disinfection, and delivery, according to CloudMinds. 

Breaking News from @CNBC. See how CloudMinds has joined the fight against the coronavirus deploying robots such as Cloud Pepper to the frontlines. https://t.co/zgqYF9Z2Ts#coronavirus #coronaviruschina #robotics #medicalrobot #SmarterRobot https://t.co/NIWXQ3Y7bC

— CloudMinds Tech (@CloudMinds_Tech) February 19, 2020

As per the New York Post, on March 7th approximately 200 patients with early signs of coronavirus were brought to this ward for quarantine. The point of the robots is to help out medics, and one such method is removing bedsheets, disposing of medical waste, and delivering food, among many other duties.

Using navigation technology, the bots are able to avoid obstacles automatically and interact with patients. 

China opens hospital robots to treat patients with corona virus. Photo https://t.co/QkvR3SwGvH pic.twitter.com/X64qNtufuN

— EG 24 NEWS (@EG24NEWS) March 11, 2020

They aren't merely being used for medical purposes, though. Ginger, one of the robots in the ward also leads to dancing routines — a way of keeping the patients' morale up. 

Thanks to their 5G network, the robots can collect the statistics of the patients and send live updates to remote doctors. 

It all sounds like it could work nicely, even if it could be considered a little impersonal. Perhaps this is precisely what's needed during an international viral outbreak.