Enhanced Visualization and Autonomy for Telehealth Robots to Address Healthcare A

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Automated patient monitoring features will be developed for a telehealth robot, to provide enhanced equitable healthcare delivery and patient-centered care. An existing mobile telepresence robot will be enhanced to drive autonomously to each bedside and perform a set of non-invasive diagnostics, utilizing infrared imaging and occasional interactivity with the patient. Temperature and blood flow factors will be analyzed, as well as body position and gestural neurologic responses. Automated analyses will be performed by computer vision techniques. Automated analyses will trigger warning alerts to nursing staff or remote physicians, depending on type and severity of the detected conditions. The source imagery and analyses will be archived for offline viewing to enable remote telehealth assistance and delivery to be more efficient and hence more available. Archived automated analyses will be available as an augmenting tool for physician diagnosis. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The features of this new product will significantly improve the ability to address nursing and physician shortages in underserved communities. Further, by enabling more efficient remote diagnosis and telehealth interventions, they will improve the quality of care provided by remote caregivers to rural and underserved communities.