The United Nations Development Program in partnership with Japan has handed over three robots that will be used against fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
The three robots (RoboRafiki) named Tumaini, Jasiri and Shujaa were possible thanks to funding from the Japanese government.
“COVID-19 has shown us that disease does not respect national boundaries. Today, as we deploy the Robots, we shall be a step ahead in combating the virus,” Cabinet Secretary for Health, Mutahi Kagwe said.
The robots have various functions that healthcare workers have been doing in the fight against the epidemic. They can disinfect a contaminated area. They perform temperature checks on individuals. They also broadcast message that remind to sanitize and check whether people are wearing masks.
UNDP says that the robots can measure the temperature of 10 to 100 people per minute at a distance of 2.5m to 3.5m. This greatly helps in protecting frontline workers from contact transmission as they go about their work.
The robots are also programmed to collect patient information, analyze the data and provide instant statistics for investigation.
The Aimbots launched today in Kenya are made by a Shenzhen based Chinese company called UBTECH. They make “smart anti-epidemic robot solutions” with the aimbots being one of them. Apart from the Aimbots, they have the Cruzr and the Atris that perform the same functions as the Aimbot. They used the Aimbot and the Atris to monitor body temperatures, detect people without masks and spray disinfectants while they used the Cruzr to provide medical consultation, patrol and real time remote communication.
This is pretty cool tech that has made its way to Kenya in the fight against COVID-19 in Kenya. As of yesterday, we have a total of 99,630 positive cases in the country from a total of 1,142,543 tests done. This launch also follows the Ministry of Health’s move to have digital verification of COVID-19 certificates at border points.
