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Our Robot Will Shortly Be with You
Infected and hospitalized? CoRobot will take care of you
he developments we have reviewed effort was completed under a very tight schedule
during the lockdown period; to enable them to
T so far are all effective improvements work at such a rapid pace, the Rambam Health
Care Campus provided the robotics club’s students
of the interface between medical staff and teachers with “emergency staff” certification.
and patients and/or a potentially contaminated “My role in this project was limited to the early
environment. But the next innovation, the stages,” Prof. Wolf says modestly, “understanding
“CoRobot,” eliminates this interface, or at least the medical requirements and then creating the
reduces it significantly. connection between the participants. All the credit
The idea for the robot emerged early on in the goes to the kids and to Assoc. Prof. Yudilevitch,
crisis period, during a phone conversation who completed the project in record time. They
between Prof. Alon Wolf, the Technion’s Vice literally worked on this 24/7, with complete
President (VPERRD) and Head of the Laboratory support from the school’s principal, Dr. Yosi Ben-
for Bio-Robotics and Biomechanics at the Faculty Dov, and Tirza Hochberg, the dedicated teacher
of Mechanical Engineering, and Prof. Rafael (Rafi) who manages the club.
Beyar, President of the International Friends The “CoRobot” developed by the students has
Associations at the Rambam Health Care Campus. two horizontal trays that can be used to transport
The two discussed the difficulties experienced by supplies. The robot has wireless connectivity and
medical staff treating COVID-19 patients. "I very can be operated using a friendly user interface on
quickly realized that instead of developing a new any smartphone or even a video game console
robot from scratch, we can adapt an existing one", controller. “The robot can deliver food, medication,
remembers Prof. Wolf, "As I saw it, the optimal water, and even test tubes to patients,” says Prof.
solution was the robot developed by students Wolf, “while doctors can use the robot to talk to
from Haifa’s Hebrew Reali School as part of the patients through the tablet mounted on to it. This
FIRST Robotics program.” eliminates the need to enter the ‘danger zone’ and
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science prevents medical staff infection.”
and Technology) is a non-profit organization The CoRobot models already manufactured are
that organizes robotics competitions for youths currently hard at work at the Rambam Medical
throughout the world. Annually, some 15,000 Center, and other hospitals in Israel are also
students participate in the Israeli program, which, showing interest. In the next phase, the robot
for the past decade, has been academically will be equipped with a communications system
headed by Prof. Wolf on behalf of the Technion. including a screen, a camera, a microphone
Last October, a group from the Megiddo Regional and speakers, and subsequently, with medical
High School in Israel won the silver medal at the sensors. “This project has multiple positive
Robotic Olympics held in Dubai. implications,” says Prof. Wolf. ”It helps medical
The “Galaxia” robotics club from the Hebrew Reali staff, and perhaps more importantly, enables
School in Haifa, who originally designed the robot youths to take part in a national effort, cementing
Prof. Wolf wanted to use, accepted the challenge their sense of civilian responsibility and
on the spot. Prof. Wolf then contacted Assoc. augmenting their willingness to contribute to
Prof. Gil Yudilevitch, Associate Professor from the social entrepreneurship. They are the State of
Technion’s Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, who Israel’s technological future.”
agreed to head the project of adapting the robot to
meet medical staff needs. The entire development
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering | MEgazine | 13
