‘They were busy day and night’
AI robots tackling Covid-19 pandemic meet global consumers at trade fair
Robots with unique functions like disinfection, delivery and rehabilitation assistance are exhibiting their talents to global consumers at the ongoing 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services.
Themed “Global Services, Shared Prosperity”, the fair is the first major international economic and trade event that China has held both online and offline since the Covid-19 outbreak.
In an exhibition area at the fair, a snail-like robot can be seen automatically moving towards a storage box, loading itself, entering an elevator and putting the box back in place after delivery.
The building distribution robot then takes a nearby disinfectant box and becomes a sterilising vehicle.
“They were busy day and night during the epidemic,” said Zhang Wenyi, design director at Candela (Shenzhen) Technology Innovation Co Ltd, which develops the Candle series robots.
According to Zhang, Candela sent a number of Candle robots to the Huoshenshan, Leishenshan and Jinyintan hospitals to aid in the fight against Covid-19 in the hard-hit city of Wuhan during the early days of the outbreak.
In addition to routine distribution and handling services, one of the robots at the Leishenshan hospital was assigned a special mission in late February.
It was tasked with sending a wedding cake to a couple who were then working at the hospital and were unable to have their wedding ceremony in Shanghai as originally scheduled.
“It was a special wedding. The hospital became the marriage hall, the protective suit became a wedding gown, and the Candle robot was the cake delivery man,” Zhang recalled.
An AI nursing robot at the fair can be seen simulating rehabilitation training for patients, helping a stuffed teddy bear lift its back, bend its knees and turn over.
This has attracted significant attention at the booth operated by Shenyang-based Siasun Robot and Automation Co Ltd.
Siasun donated 10 nursing robots and seven logistics robots to the First Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang since the early outbreak of Covid-19, according to Li Xuewei, general manager of Siasun’s medical and health robot division.
Li said Siasun’s nursing robots have helped Covid-19 patients recover, and reduced cross-infection and labour intensity for medical staff, thus improving efficiency.
Shenzhen-based company UBTECH Robotics Corp has brought its intelligent thermal detection robots, which participated on the frontline in the anti-epidemic battle, to exhibit at the fair.
Its founder, Zhou Jian, said the robots developed by the company had not only taken up tasks at hospitals, schools and enterprises in China, but had also provided anti-epidemic services in South Korea, Japan, Belgium, Nigeria and other countries. The global robot market was valued at about US$29.4bil (RM122.1bil) in 2019, with service robots contributing nearly one third of the total and seeing the fastest growth of 14.1%, according to the Chinese Institute of Electronics (CIE).
China’s service robot market was estimated to be worth US$2.2bil (RM9.14bil) by the CIE in 2019, accounting for more than a quarter of the global service robot market.