Bill Huang is the chief executive of CloudMinds, a Chinese-American company that provides cloud-based robotic operating systems. He explains how the pandemic has accelerated his firm's application of robotics technology to real-life situations.
What does your company do
I founded CloudMinds in 2015 with the long-term goal of creating a humanoid robot nanny that can be used to help parents who are struggling with the demands of running their own household while working full-time.
These types of robots are extremely complex to build because they require sophisticated artificial intelligence to perform a wide range of duties such as feeding and dressing babies.
In the short term, we started by focusing on building robots for three industries: hospitality, retail and healthcare. We currently produce four types of robots. humanoid robot for reception; Security patrol robots to protect vacant private lands or offices; cleaning robot; And intelligent vending machines that can see and talk to you – a popular feature in China and Southeast Asia.
How did the outbreak affect your work
On January 24, a day after the Chinese government imposed a lockdown on the city of Wuhan, we shifted our company's focus to helping fight the spread of the virus. Since the outbreak, all Chinese robot companies I know have done so. Within weeks, we were providing hospitals with proposals for robots that could disinfect wards, monitor temperatures and dispense medicines.
On February 28, we began setting up China's first robot-run ward, which was designed to prevent Wuhan Wuchang Hospital workers from contracting them. It was operational till March 6, but was suspended only four days later, as virus cases fell so rapidly across the city.
It was a big experiment for us. As far as I know, there has never been a fully automated, robot-powered medical ward in China. We only had weeks to organize its design, reach out to other companies to provide additional equipment, and find ways to transport and ship the hardware and necessary engineers to the hospital during the lockdown in Wuhan as the rest of China was shutting down .
How did Robot Ward work
Ward was established in Wuhan Hongshan Sports Center. We made it suitable for about 200 people who were exhibiting early symptoms of the virus and who needed medical care, but were not critically ill.
In all, we had 12 robots performing various tasks, from dispensing food, drinks and medicines to monitoring vital signs and disinfecting the area. Outside the room, clinical staff controlled and monitored the robot's movements.
Before we opened the ward, CloudMinds engineers mapped the area and uploaded its geographic information to a cloud-based server. The robot used these information points to navigate the ward. Our engineers also put up a large screen outside the ward, displaying each person's health information, and the robots were used by doctors and nurses for their next assignment.
Patients were also given bracelets equipped with sensors to measure their heart rate and temperature.
What were the risks involved
Our two major concerns were connectivity and technical issues. We were less concerned about people's reaction because in my experience, people don't find robots scary. We've actually found that people like robots because they're fun to watch and take away from boredom.
All of our robots are connected by a personal, secure virtual network to a central cloud brain that runs on a mobile operating system. We rent robots to customers along with operating software, and connect the units to the cloud, where engineers provide technical support.
However, if the robots lose their mobile signal they stop working. Before starting this company, I was a telecommunications engineer and head of research for China Mobile, the world's largest mobile operator. We had an agreement that if the 4G signal drops, it will be promoted by China Mobile.
Happily, there was no hardware malfunction and the director of the hospital said that if a similar incident happened in future, he would not hesitate to restart it. Nice to hear this.
Where are the robots now
They are resting in the headquarters of our company in Beijing. Based on feedback from medical staff and patients, my team is doing more research and development to improve the robot when it is needed again.
