I am a nurse and have an idea to improve workflow for nurses using COW's (computer on wheels). Our institution uses these rubbermaid rolling stands made for hosptial use. They have a good stand and it's easy for them to roll them around. The problem is that the nursing floors are large and the computers constantly get left somewhere. Also they need to be periodically plugged in to keep the battery from draining. Aslo they are a huge source for bacterial growth and can be a hazard if not cleaned regularly. My idea is to have a 360 radius wheel that sits close to the floor and can drop down to drive the COW at a slow speed to a certain destination, such as when the nurse presses a button on a badge that sends the call signal. Then the COW comes to the postion the nurse is at using WIFI location. Also there is an arm on the base of the COW that is at the height for the outlet to automatically plug it in when the battery is low. At specific staggered times each COW will roll through a special UV door for sterilization to keep it clean. Does anyone have any ideas? I know the programming would be something similar to the ROOMBA for traveling and that it would need sensors for object avoidance. Also it would need something like the mega, with a wifi, motor, and accelerometer shield.
Thanks!!!
I love the concept, but having seen a few hospital wards and treatment centers and also having seen how difficult it is to make an autonomous robot work reliably even under ideal conditions, the idea strikes me as completely impractical.
Hi,
Certainly quite difficult, but if the payback is high it may be worthwhile.
Most hospitals have some tekkie people who repair medical equipment. Maybe talk to them and see if you can set up a collaboration. This would take a lot of prototyping and testing and doing it all in-house would help that.
But maybe some equipment manufacturer would get involved and then they would only cost $25,000 or so
Look at non-contact inductive rechargers. You maybe not have to actually plug in, just snuggle close.
I once was able to get Buckminister Fuller to come for a meeting / discussion many years ago at IBM. One thing he said that I have used personally ever since was "Dare To Be Naive!".
If people are telling you things like "It's too difficult", "you don't understand the problem", "It can't be done that way", and "You're Just Naive!", that's GOOD, Fuller said, because it means you have new ideas and are questioning conventional wisdom.
Regards, Terry King ... Still Naive at 73
One approach is to use an upward facing camera with fiducial markers on the ceiling. I believe that this is the typical technique now used in the film industry when filming within a 3D generated environment (to track the moving camera).
You could probably do the same thing for much less using reacTIVision.
Emboldened by "dare to be naive" I wonder if it might be cheaper and less trouble to maintain just to buy more PCs?
...R
PS Of course I do realize that institutions much prefer complex solutions. The BBC has apparently given up on a failed computer project that has cost it £80million (I think).
Plugging in would not be easy, the inductive charging idea is much better.
Colliding with patients would be a problem.
The UV sterilization I don't see working with keyboards etc. or do you use membrane boards.
Perhaps some plastic cover that the computer could be operated through - but users might not like that.
Emboldened by "dare to be naive" I wonder if it might be cheaper and less trouble to maintain just to buy more PCs?
Good point. How about an onboard "ups" that is what really gets recharged 'humanly' every week? With a good low-power LapTop it should be able to run a long time.
I think in order to really see how this works I would need to build a prototype and have it 'pull' a stand and see how it works in a hallway. I'm not sure if using a camera would be prudent here though. I think there are too many variables in hallways and using wifi would allow for a central location to manage each computer location. Does anyone have any ideas on what shields to use? I heard the Arduino is coming out with a wifi version so there is no shield needed. Also I think this would need sensor for movement and 'eyes' for detecting obstacles. The wifi can be mapped so the hallways are visible allowing the 'stand' to navigate within the paramaters of the building.
Some ICU's are using a robot to UV sterilize a room besides cleaning so they can further decrease contamination. Is there any reason it wouldn't work on keyboards if the UV light is coming from 360?
Thanks!!
Talk to the company that provides the units you already have. There R+D team have the resources to improve things.
Mark
Perhaps tablet PCs would be a good solution as they have no keyboards to collect bacteria. Again, being naive, small tablets can be had for about £150 - in the medical business that's almost a throwaway price. Just issue one for every member of staff that needs one - and expect the "owner" to keep it charged and in good condition. This would get away from the problem where nobody feels it is their duty to ensure a shared PC is plugged in.
...R
Thanks for the advice on the tablets. They actually won't work because most EMR's need a mouse for left and right clicks to chart and a hospital system general sticks with one EMR for at least 10 years, or until another one comes along that offers better systems at a good price. Also, the trend now for hospitals is to have a computer on wheels with the medications in locked drawers for each patient. This way the nurse can efficiently see all the patients. Right now nurses have to chart in 4 to five different sections for patient assessment and then they have to do a care plan once a shift. All medicines are also scanned and charted so there is no error for patient identity. The computer on wheels has really become a second nurse which is why I think this would be of great benefit.
They actually won't work because most EMR's need a mouse for left and right clicks to chart
Tabs can use the mouse too!
a hospital system general sticks with one EMR for at least 10 years,
I can't see a single idea not exploited in Android market maybe try searching there!
need something like the mega, with a wifi, motor, and accelerometer shield
I would suggest using a Cortex ARM device , the ARM device arduino right now uses is too costly and may be over powering.
Specific checkpoints can be made and the system can be commanded to reach that checkpoint, now that's something really easy for me but then there has to be one lane left for the autowheels to travel their way to destination like a middle lane in case of automatised german factories!
I really like the ARM idea. I checked out some prices at deal extreme and they were pretty good. What about the motor size? The carts typically weigh about 40-50 pounds. How much torque would I need to go 1-3 mph from start to stop?
Sounds like a variation on something like this
http://www.vecna.com/solutions/hospital-delivery
Google "hospital robot delivery" there are many out there already.
You would buy a lot of Tablets and Arduinos for the price of one of those Vecna machines
I imagine that trolleys containing medicines are brought to the patient by a nurse who is responsible for administering the medicine. If s/he can't deliver the medicine without the trolley s/he will have to bring it with him/her so there seems little need for robot movement of the trolley.
If the hospital is considering a system in which a patient can help himself to medicine from an unattended robot trolley that would be a different matter.
If there is a computer (desktop type pc, laptop or tablet) as part of the trolley and if the patient records are only updated or checked when a nurse visits a patient with a trolley, again there seems no need for a robot.
If nurses visit patients to check their condition and update records and don't need to have the trolley at that time then a cheap tablet seems like a good idea for convenient and clean data access.
If the hospital replaces its health software every 10 years or so then whatever you are working on now should be designed for the next generation, not the current generation so comments about needing to work with the present system are irrelevant. Even if you make a practical demonstration model it will take several years before the concept is accepted. (I used to work in the civil service - though not the health sector).
You will also be faced with the reality that hospitals (like all of the public service) have to acquire things through a formal procurement tendering process so there is no guarantee that your product will be accepted after all your hard work - Vecna might win just because they have a track record (assuming they do - I know nothing about them).
Sorry if this sounds very negative.
...R
The carts typically weigh about 40-50 pounds. How much torque would I need to go 1-3 mph from start to stop?
Google for calculation
I'm interested in how you think you can get location information from Wifi. If the nurse that needs the computer is going to call for it, how will it know where he/she is?
What mechanism will the nurse have to call the computer?
My plan was to use something like what WifiSlam was doing before apple took over and shut everything down. There are a couple of other websites out there doing the same thing. Basically each wifi signal is unique and can easily be tracked and triangulated to a specific location between the emitters in a building. If the nurse has a simple locator with a push button, she could push the button to call the machine to her. It could be made much more complicated then that but I am really just working on the concept right now. I am a PICC nurse so I am used to pushing around my ultrasound machine which I may try this on first. I know they have all the robots that deliver meds and do other things but these really just help ancillary staff out and not the RN ( not including delivery speed which usually depends on how many staff are in the pharmacy and not the speed they walk/tube to the floor).
dinodeserter:
What about the motor size? The carts typically weigh about 40-50 pounds. How much torque would I need to go 1-3 mph from start to stop?
Push the cart and make note of how much pressure you push it with. Or use a hanging weigh scale and pull it to get a measurement. That's how many pounds of force it takes to move it.
Torque is a measurement of force at a distance from the center of rotation. 1 lb-ft of torque would be 1 pound of force at 1 foot radius (a 2' diameter wheel). If the wheel was half as large (1' diameter) then the same motor would have twice as much force. Etc...
Thanks!!