5G-powered robots contribute to epidemic control in China

Using a 5G-powered robot, doctors at a hospital in east China's Zhejiang province conducted an ultrasound scan for a patient 700 km away in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, the center of the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to the Science and Technology Daily.

A technician adjusts a disinfection robot at a robot manufacturer in Qingdao, Shandong province. [File photo/China Daily]

In line with the patient's ultrasonic images transmitted back in real-time, two doctors, Peng Chengzhong and Ye Ruizhong of Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, operated a robotic arm via a 5G network that performed the ultrasound scan for a patient in a makeshift hospital in Wuhan.

It was not the first time 5G remote ultrasound technology had been used to treat novel coronavirus patients in China.

The country's first remote ultrasonic medical certificate was issued when Peng conducted an ultrasound scan for a suspected patient in a small city of Zhejiang on Feb. 2.

The 5G smart medical innovation laboratory jointly established by Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, telecommunication giant China Telecom and tech giant Huawei, has provided technical support for the two cases.

A few minutes of cardiopulmonary ultrasound examination will produce up to 2GB of ultrasonic image data, with a high transmission speed and low latency.

It was also not the first time 5G-powered robots have played a full role in China's epidemic prevention and control.

The 5G cloud intelligent robots developed by another telecommunication giant China Mobile and robot maker CloudMinds have been working in Hubei province and other places, providing medical services such as remote care, body temperature tests, spraying disinfectants, cleaning and drug delivery.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a notice that it would support the application of the Internet, big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence in areas such as epidemic monitoring, virus sources tracing, epidemic prevention and treatment.