Supporting Healthcare During the COVID-19 Pandemic with Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

Published Special Issues
1 October 2021
26 May 2024

This issue is now published.

Description

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has taken the world by surprise. Due to a surge in demand for critical care facilities, the best healthcare systems in the world have collapsed. Moreover, COVID-19 has accelerated the need of some technological innovations, strategies, and solutions that enable scientists to reduce the spread of the virus and its effects. Some Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications are actively investigating medical databases for treatments. Previously, some AI applications were also used to develop new molecules for possible drugs, as well as to help confirm possible fake diseases.

Mechanical tasks like food preparation or medication distribution have been performed by robots on isolation and disinfection wings to minimise patient interaction. For instance, they spray disinfectants in potentially contaminated areas, and ensure food and medication do not get contaminated when transported to quarantine areas. Telemedicine also plays an important role in preventing health systems from failing and eliminating the transmission of the disease in hospitals. These tools may also provide specialist knowledge of infectious diseases in areas where advanced services are lacking. Additionally, they improve effective triage, classification of patients prior to their arrival at the emergency room, and coordination of care for probable COVID-19 cases or people who have been exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 patient.

The aim of this Special Issue is to collate original research about robotics and AI for the purpose to support healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic. Review articles discussing the state of the art are also welcome.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • AI techniques for COVID-19 diagnosis
  • Using AI in medical images analysis for diagnosis COVID-19 long-term effects
  • Applications of AI in biomechanics to support telerehabilitation
  • Wearable systems to prevent the spread of COVID-19
  • Wearable systems to monitor health during COVID-19 quarantine
  • Innovative and portable rehabilitation devices to support home therapy during emergency lockdowns
  • Robotics as aid system for COVID-19 prevention
  • Robotics to support drug delivery
  • Robotics in sanitation
  • Service robotics for hospital support during viral emergencies

Editors

Lead Editor

Daniele Cafolla1

1IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy

Guest Editors

Luigi Pavone1 | Matteo Russo2

1IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy

2University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

Export Citation(s)Download PDF(s)

Research Article
Open Access

A Novel COVID-19 Diagnosis Support System Using the Stacking Approach and Transfer Learning Technique on Chest X-Ray Images

Soufiane Hamida,  Oussama El Gannour,  Bouchaib Cherradi,  Abdelhadi Raihani,  Hicham Moujahid,  Hassan Ouajji, 
Research Article
Open Access

Research on Classification of COVID-19 Chest X-Ray Image Modal Feature Fusion Based on Deep Learning

Dongsheng Ji,  Zhujun Zhang,  Yanzhong Zhao,  Qianchuan Zhao, 
Research Article
Open Access

Structural Design and Preliminary Tests of a Novel Patient Transfer Apparatus for Medical Scenarios

Yu Tian,  Hongbo Wang,  Yongshun Zhang,  Bowen Su,  Jiazheng Du,  Xincheng Wang,  Yongfei Feng,  Bo Cheng,  Jianye Niu, 
Research Article
Open Access

Disentangling the Association of Hydroxychloroquine Treatment with Mortality in Covid-19 Hospitalized Patients through Hierarchical Clustering

Augusto Di Castelnuovo,  Alessandro Gialluisi,  Andrea Antinori,  Nausicaa Berselli,  Lorenzo Blandi,  Marialaura Bonaccio,  Raffaele Bruno,  Roberto Cauda,  Simona Costanzo,  Giovanni Guaraldi,  Lorenzo Menicanti,  Marco Mennuni,  Ilaria My,  Giustino Parruti,  Giuseppe Patti,  Stefano Perlini,  Francesca Santilli,  Carlo Signorelli,  Giulio Stefanini,  Alessandra Vergori,  Walter Ageno,  Antonella Agodi,  Piergiuseppe Agostoni,  Luca Aiello,  Samir Al Moghazi,  Rosa Arboretti,  Filippo Aucella,  Greta Barbieri,  Martina Barchitta,  Paolo Bonfanti,  Francesco Cacciatore,  Lucia Caiano,  Francesco Cannata,  Laura Carrozzi,  Antonio Cascio,  Giacomo Castiglione,  Arturo Ciccullo,  Antonella Cingolani,  Francesco Cipollone,  Claudia Colomba,  Crizia Colombo,  Annalisa Crisetti,  Francesca Crosta,  Gian Battista Danzi,  Damiano D′Ardes,  Katleen de Gaetano Donati,  Francesco Di Gennaro,  Giuseppe Di Tano,  Gianpiero D′Offizi,  Francesco Maria Fusco,  Carlo Gaudiosi,  Ivan Gentile,  Francesco Gianfagna1,  Gabriele Giuliano,  Emauele Graziani,  Gabriella Guarnieri,  Valerio Langella,  Giovanni Larizza,  Armando Leone,  Gloria Maccagni,  Federica Magni,  Stefano Maitan,  Sandro Mancarella,  Rosa Manuele,  Massimo Mapelli,  Riccardo Maragna,  Rossella Marcucci,  Giulio Maresca,  Silvia Marongiu,  Claudia Marotta,  Lorenzo Marra,  Franco Mastroianni,  Alessandro Mengozzi,  Marianna Meschiari,  Jovana Milic,  Filippo Minutolo,  Roberta Mussinelli,  Cristina Mussini,  Maria Musso,  Anna Odone,  Marco Olivieri,  Antonella Palimodde,  Emanuela Pasi,  Raffaele Pesavento,  Francesco Petri,  Carlo A Pivato,  Venerino Poletti,  Claudia Ravaglia,  Giulia Righetti,  Andrea Rognoni,  Marco Rossato,  Ilaria Rossi,  Marianna Rossi,  Anna Sabena,  Francesco Salinaro,  Vincenzo Sangiovanni,  Carlo Sanrocco,  Nicola Schiano Moriello,  Laura Scorzolini,  Raffaella Sgariglia,  Paola Giustina Simeone,  Michele Spinicci,  Enrica Tamburrini,  Carlo Torti,  Enrico Maria Trecarichi,  Roberto Vettor,  Andrea Vianello,  Marco Vinceti,  Agostino Virdis,  Raffaele De Caterina,  Licia Iacoviello, 
Research Article
Open Access

Classification of COVID-19 Chest CT Images Based on Ensemble Deep Learning

Xiaoshuo Li,  Wenjun Tan,  Pan Liu,  Qinghua Zhou,  Jinzhu Yang, 
Research Article
Open Access

Computer-Aided Diagnosis of COVID-19 CT Scans Based on Spatiotemporal Information Fusion

Tianyi Li,  Wei Wei,  Lidan Cheng,  Shengjie Zhao,  Chuanjun Xu,  Xia Zhang,  Yi Zeng,  Jihua Gu, 
Research Article
Open Access

An Autotuning Cable-Driven Device for Home Rehabilitation

Jhon F. Rodríguez-León,  Betsy D. M. Chaparro-Rico,  Matteo Russo,  Daniele Cafolla,