Robots could be trained to help combat the coronavirus pandemic

Robots could be trained to disinfect surfaces, take temperatures, collecting swabs and provide social support for quarantined patients to help combat coronavirus. The'dull, dirty and dangerous jobs' could be automated, but we would need to add many new functionalities to machines first, roboticists argued in a journal editorial. Many of these necessary capabilities, however, are neither being funded or developed at present, the experts cautioned. Robots could be trained to disinfect surfaces, take temperatures, collecting swabs and provide social support for quarantined patients to help combat coronavirus. Among the signatories of the editorial are roboticist Howie Choset of the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and the president of the National Academy of Science, Marcia McNutt.