Pandemic and Technology: The Technological Impact of COVID-19

COVID-19 derailed the economy and disrupted just about every major industry. But it also accelerated some technological trends that will shape our world long after the pandemic is over.

Automation and isolation are driving innovations in robotics

Robots are ameliorating the psychological impacts of the pandemic by providing companionship. Sandra Petersen, director of the nursing department at the University of Texas at Tyler, introduced “robotic pet therapy” to comfort lonely quarantined patients. Robotic pet therapy stars a robotic (but cuddly) harp seal named Paro, designed by Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. Patients, especially the elderly, that talk to Paro feel less lonesome while in isolation. Their mental state and biological signs improve, while their reliance on psychotropic drugs decreases.  

At the Wuhan Hongshan Sports Center, an experimental all-robot crew ran the COVID-19 ward for a short period. The cloud-based robotics, developed by CloudMinds, required only a week of set-up and were operational by March 6. A team of 12 robots navigated the department using a cloud-uploaded map and cared for 200 coronavirus-affected (but not seriously ill) patients. Robots delivered food and drugs, took patient readings, and displayed all the data on a large screen for doctors and nurses. But the program was suspended after only four days, due to a drastic city-wide drop in coronavirus cases. 

In hospitals around the world, robots keep staff out of harm’s way by performing sanitation duties. Danish robotics firm UVD Robots created a 6-foot-tall automaton, composed of a wheeled base and a rod that emits UV light. Nicknamed Pathogen Enemy Number One, the robot emits the most damaging type of UV light, UVC light, which kills 99.999% percent of pathogens in 30 seconds or less. And unlike antibiotic treatments, it doesn’t breed super-germs. 

Quarantine has accelerated the automation of food

Food delivery robots offer a safe way to shop during the pandemic. San Francisco-based Starship Technologies has been developing such robots, which resemble six-wheeled coolers. They travel at walking speed and maneuver around obstacles to deliver groceries within a 4-mile radius. The robots are monitored from HQ, and remote operators take over if an error occurs. 

Robots have been delivering groceries to the residents of Milton Keynes, England, for more than two years, completing more than 100,000 deliveries. And a recent expansion has seen the delivery fleet grow to more than 100. In March, Starship Technologies expanded to six new cities, including Washington D.C.   

Automated technologies are extending into grocery stores, where robots scrub floors, take inventory and prepare customers’ orders while preserving social distancing. At warehouses across the U.S., robots clean and provide untiring labor. They pack and transport boxes more efficiently than other automated processes, like conveyors, and reduce the need for human interaction. 

Walmart, specifically, is introducing a variety of robotics during the pandemic. Including autonomous machines to ferry items to customers, in nearly 2,000 of its US locations. Thousands of Walmart stores have placed orders for robots that will scan and organize mountains of products and stock items on shelves. 

Automated processes improved for frontline workers

Scott Mastellon, the CIO of Suffolk County, New York, found an innovative solution to the overabundance of paperwork and ease the burden placed on nurses. To keep up with the massive influx of patients in one of the state’s hardest-hit areas, hospital staff spent innumerable hours recording, printing and sending case data to the New York State Department of Health. Even executives from the county office were sent down to pull 11-hour shifts inputting data. 

So Mastellon entered into a partnership with SVAM International, a software and information supplier. SVAM developed a robotic process automation (RPA) system that automatically transferred data from the state to the patient management system. The RPA saved the county $50,000. But more importantly, it freed up nurses to tend to the flood of patients, as COVID-19 cases were surging to 1,000 per day by the end of March. 

Artificial intelligence streamlines medical supply chain

The world’s most prominent AI entity, MIT-IBM Watson, is lending help in numerous COVID-fighting domains. It’s calculating how to more efficiently manufacture and distribute vaccines. And how to design better medical equipment, like masks, by quickly and cheaply simulating different combinations of materials. 

Regarding biological matters, Watson can predict sepsis, a life-threatening condition caused by an abnormal immune response to an infection. Sepsis affects 10%of coronavirus sufferers but kills 50% of those afflicted. Watson is also creating proteins that could bind to cells, blocking the coronavirus itself.  

AI can also sift through existing drug data and studies for potential treatments. And simulate the effect of drugs that are in development, or otherwise untested. It can also optimize ventilator use, decreasing the risk of lung damage while freeing the machine so it can help others. To contain the surge, Watson can privately conduct contact tracing. And model the effects of various lockdown strategies on human health as well as the economy.

States roll in an army of chatbots

As the pandemic progressed over the first few months of the year, government and state agencies became inundated with inquiries. Before COVID-19, Georgia’s state health site recorded 5,000 sessions per day. By March, that number spiked to 5 million per day. The Texas Workforce Commission was similarly overburdened, receiving the equivalent of 3.5 years’ worth of claims in just 56 days, including 98,000 claims in a single day.

And these same types of problems popped up across the U.S. In response, 36 states deployed chatbots to support call centers, public health websites and unemployment services (as of June 10). 

Chatbots offer 24/7 availability and can be set up quickly. Georgia’s public health chatbot, for example, was up and running in just three days. It utilizes Microsoft’s QnA Maker, which transforms existing data into a Q&A-type format that website visitors can interact with. 

And chatbots liberate workers from the flood of calls and virtual inquiries. The Texas Workforce Commission’s chatbot, Larry, has interacted with more than a million people and answered nearly 5 million questions. The chatbot serving Utah’s official state website (Utah.gov) engages in up to 1,100 chat sessions per day. 

These technologies are the present and the future

The technologies used to battle the pandemic have been in development for years. But the ongoing crisis has forced them into use like never before. These innovations, almost limitless in their future applications, promise to usher in a new era of automation and artificial intelligence.