The world of Italian robotics is mobilizing against the Covid-19 pandemic with 70 pilot projects, collected in the TechForCare platform, created by the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines (I-Rim) and Maker Faire Rome, the digital artisans fair. Like the remotely operated avatar robots in the ward that, via video call, serve as an interface between patients in isolation and doctors or relatives, reducing the risk of infection. Or farm robots useful for harvesting in the fields, and collaborative robots, to be used to sanitize environments and to work safely, ensuring physical distancing in the workplace.
"We have already collected 70 pilot projects in a few weeks from various countries, many are Italian," the president of I-Rim Antonio Bicchi, of the University of Pisa and of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) told ANSA. “On the theme of anti-Covid-19 robotics - he continued - Italy is leading the way in the world. We are an example for others, exporting our experience, both because we are world leaders in this sector and because we were, after China, among the first to be affected by the virus ".
The pilot projects are not only on paper, but already ready to be produced and enter the market. "From this point of view - said Bicchi - the pandemic anticipated the future, giving a frightening acceleration to the development of robotics, the results of which can be seen, rather than in five years, already in the coming months. One aspect that struck me greatly - concluded the president of the I-Rim - is that the emergency we are experiencing has changed citizens' perception of robots, which have once again become an opportunity and no longer a threat, for the fear that they will lose jobs ".
