Robots make the future of healthcare more advanced

What does the future of healthcare look like? For the past decade, cutting-edge technology has led to medical advancements and innovative practices that have reshaped healthcare. Today, healthcare professionals have the tools, computing power and collective research, to effectively diagnose and care for their patients. From augmented reality to 3D printed drugs, the healthcare industry is truly living in the future.

Recently, the healthcare industry has explored leveraging robots in everyday care, from streamlining administration tasks to improving healthcare practices. Intelligent service robots offer a new way to collect and share data, while expediting the process at the same time. Below are practical ways in which robots can be deployed in the healthcare environment to assist healthcare professionals and improve patient experience:

1. Automate Diagnostics: Roughly 130.4 million ER visits occur in the United States each year. With the abundance of patients requiring medical attention, it is critical that doctors are able to diagnose patients in a timely manner. To ensure an efficient use of time, advanced medical robotics can be used to assist doctors in streamlining visits by automating practices including checkups, testing, diagnosis and prescriptions. 
2. Protect Patient Privacy: As new technology devices emerge, privacy has increasingly become a top concern for patients, healthcare providers and hospitals. To ensure that patient records are kept secure, an open API humanoid robot can be programmed to connect with a hospital’s private cloud server, ensuring patient’s confidential information can only be accessed with hospital credentials.
3. Entertain Patients: Hospitals often have the negative connotation of being a scary place. To make patients’ visits more enjoyable, robots can provide entertainment by dancing, playing games and communicating using voice commands and gesture control capabilities.
4. Shorten Wait Times: In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the average Emergency Room (ER) wait times were roughly 30 minutes and the average treatment times were about 90 minutes, resulting in wait times of roughly two hours. To reduce long wait times and improve the patients’ experience, intelligent robots can be deployed in waiting rooms for a variety of applications including assisting patients waiting in the ER with their administrative paperwork.
5. Enhance Physical Therapy: In addition to waiting rooms, service robots can assist with physical therapy sessions. Using a projector or touch screen, robots can display instructional videos to help patients learn the proper technique for rehabilitation exercises.
6. Comfort Children: Hospitals can be a foreign place for children. To ease any concerns children may have prior to their appointment, a robot’s touchscreen can be used to tell stories, display educational materials, or stream videos to calm a child during stressful situations.
7. Overcome Language Barriers: As global travel continues to grow, the percentage of patients who visit a hospital outside of their native country increases. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and a programed language database, robots can help doctors communicate and quickly diagnose patients from abroad.
8. Provide 24/7 Care: Robots equipped with cameras and sensors can also assist patients by performing around-the-clock patient monitoring, ensuring that patients receive constant care. Additionally, as the care robots for the elderly, robots can connect to wearables such as a heart rate monitor to keep an eye on a people’s vitals and contact a healthcare professional should an issue arise.

The applications for robots in the healthcare environment are continuing to grow, and some of the top hospitals in America are already deploying robots to help reduce costs, streamline operations and improve the patient experience. Ultimately, the future of robotics in healthcare will be determined by implementation, but for now the future looks bright.

TOM media in France: Sanbot Improves Business Value and Customer Experience

Chinese manufacturer QIHAN Technology presented Sanbot, a small humanoid robot of 93 centimeters. Dedicated to improving the customer experience and increasing business productivity, Sanbot, whose slogan is "Robotics as a service", is one of the robots that could attract and serve passengers such as hotels and airports. Lennic Qian, Vice President of International Sales and Marketing at Qihan Tech, talks about Sanbot's big goals.

Q: Why did you build a service robot like Sanbot? What are its objectives?

Lennic Qian: We built Sanbot to improve people’s life quality and customer experience, while bringing more profits to the companies. The intelligent autonomous robot performs daily tasks to enable human beings to concentrate on more creative tasks. Sanbot can help companies specializing in the Retail, Hospitality, Education and Healthcare sectors, friendly and accessibly. Sanbot is aimed to help with businesses and customer experience, not to replace human staff totally, which is why Sanbot is not very big.

Q: Facial recognition, Cloud, artificial intelligence ... Can you tell us about the technologies integrated by Sanbot?

Lennic Qian: First of all, you should know that Sanbot has a public API. This allows the programmable robot to be easily customizable. In particular, we can add applications to its system in a very simple way. It is thanks to this API that Sanbot can be deployed in various industries. In addition, Sanbot is also connected to the Qihan Cloud platform developed and is linked to Sanbot’s unique matched Q-Link application.

At physical level, Sanbot is equipped with seven microphones used for location, recognition and voice commands. It has a security camera, three 3D cameras and two perspective cameras manufactured by Sony, allowing facial recognition, depth perception and interactions with the users. Sanbot has tactile sensors on the head, arms, back and chest allowing the user to wake up Sanbot and get different reactions from him. It has a 1080p definition touch screen provided by Panasonic and a 720p definition projector. Finally, the robot consists of sixty other sensors, including infrared sensors to detect humans and objects and a PIR sensor to avoid them, spatial sensors, and sensors connected to a remote control.

Q: You were in Innorobo this year. How did you live this fair, did it help you to forge partnerships in France?

Lennic Qian: Innorobo allowed our team and the robot to have very interesting exchanges with visitors at the show, especially concerning our future robot. We also had the opportunity to meet many end users from the tourism industry such as hotel service for example. They are also very interested in intelligent service robot, they think it very nice and cute ... For the moment, we are still in the discussion phase and we will soon contact some of our prospects. We are obviously aimed to expand our partnerships.

Q: Sanbot has been adopted by two airports in China. What are his missions? How does Sanbot help staff and travelers?

Lennic Qian: Indeed, Aviation is one of the most high-demanding sectors. Thanks to the Sanbot API, the Guangzhou-Baiyun and Shenzhen Bao'an airports can program the open API robot platform according to their own requirements and thus integrate a system of loyalty points, ticket search and information on Flights, for example. At these airports, Sanbot is also responsible for relaying information on flights, shops and restaurants, guiding and entertaining travelers in the aisles of the airport. Sanbot even allows users to check in. Moreover, thanks to our robot, travelers have access to the Internet where and when they want. In short, our small humanoid interactive robot allows airports to improve the experience of passengers by answering the questions of the latter regarding their itinerary for example and to assist the airport staff in their tasks.

Q: At Innorobo event, we heard about a new robot under construction at QIHAN Technology. What will be the differences with Sanbot?

Lennic Qian: We are indeed working on a new model commercial robot, on which we cannot deliver too much information yet. I can only say that it will be 1 meter 40, for more accessibility and that the three main functionalities of this new robot will concern navigation and the positioning system indoors, a multi-modular function allowing him to fix an advertising screen, a printer, a tray ... and the ability to carry objects weighing more than 100 kilograms.

Q: Finally, why should tourism companies adopt Sanbot?

Lennic Qian: As observed with the airports of Guangzhou-Baiyun and Shenzhen Bao'an, Sanbot can improve the service of any company specializing in tourism. The better customer service, the more attractive customers will be and the more likely they are to be loyal! And that Sanbot can make it.

Original: http://www.tom.travel/2017/06/08/le-robot-de-service-sanbot-ameliore-lexperience-client-et-la-productivite-des-entreprises/

Sanbot Robot Lineup Cheered for Football Match of China League

Last Saturday on May 13th, one important league match of China League was held in Shenzhen Stadium: Shenzhen Football Club vs Wuhan Zall Football Club. The football match attracted a total of more than 10,000 football fans to scene. In order to warm the scene more effectively, the powerful lineup of 60 Sanbot robots were invited to be the cheerleaders. The athletic competition with artificial intelligence witnessed a multiple elements to the event.

Sanbot Lineup

Sanbot is the sub-brand of Qihan Technology, one leading AI innovative company located in Shenzhen. Sanbot was awarded one of “Top Ten Commercial Service Robot Brands” in China. The 60 Sanbot robots’ joining-in was an innovative move and another significant inter-industrial breakthrough both for AI technology and sports.

At the scene, the robots gave full play to the AI functions. Before the match, the remote controlled 60 Sanbot robots and 30 staff from Qihan Technology formed SZFC (Full name: Shenzhen Football Club) captioned by overhead drone.

60 Sanbot robots and 30 staff from Qihan Technology formed SZFC

The entrance fans witnessed the busy robots: Some were receiving football fans, some chanting the match slogan, while some others were dancing in group to warm up. One of the most attractions is that, one robot ran to Mr. Sven-Göran Eriksson for group photos. Mr. Eriksson managed the national teams of England, Mexico and the Ivory Coast, as well as three clubs in England and has been engaged as the football coach of Shenzhen Football Club since Dec. 5th, 2016.

Mr. Eriksson and Sanbot

Sanbot is one epitome of artificial intelligence. One of the most highlights is its open API ecosystem involved in various industries. Aimed at special service scenarios, the robot can be further developed and installed with the customized solutions, creating a lot value to businesses around the world.

Now people are making the impossible possible with the fast development of AI technology. The football match fueled with artificial intelligence is just a starting point. Hi-tech artificial intelligence is one key point Chinese government is paying high attention to. In the near future, artificial intelligence will make a greater contribution to people’s lives and businesses all around the world.