Low-cost Robot Assistance Design for Health Area to Help Prevent COVID-19 in Honduras

Abstract

The healthcare personnel stands out for their responsibility towards the care of people who suffer illnesses or accidents. Thanks to the doctors and nurses who ensure any emergency patients receive the proper attention and healthcare critical to their well-being. Currently, there is a pandemic, COVID-19, which is a virus that quickly spreads through contact with surfaces, directly or indirectly, from a person who carries the virus. Healthcare personnel is at risk of exposure to the virus every day by serving patients when carrying out tests and monitoring them. Despite the use of personal protective equipment, healthcare personnel is at risk of acquiring the virus. There have been doctors who have been exposed to the virus, became ill, and, in some cases, lost their lives. The goal of developing an electronic system is to assist healthcare workers by using a robot that will complete basic tasks such as taking patient's temperatures. For the design of the robot, a quantitative approach, experimental design, and a "V" methodology were used. As a main result, the approximate robot cost is $728. It was concluded that the project is functional and effective in implementing the robot design to assist healthcare personnel and reducing the risk of exposure.