Covid-19: Covid-detecting robot protecting schoolchildren in Mexico

Two Benebot robots detect covid-19

MEXICO CITY, May 22 (NNN-EFE) — Certain schools in the central Mexican state of Queretaro are getting ready to reopen with the help of Benebot, a robot that can detect Covid-19 and other diseases.

Benebot, an artificial intelligence robot created in China and being used in more than 40 countries, has a simplistic look, with blue eyes that inspect students’ faces and a type of “stomach” where students place their hands to have their temperature checked.

On its side, the robot has a screen where different readings from the student it has just checked can be viewed and followed day by day.

With medical-grade cameras, temperature sensors and AI software capable of evaluating in seconds whether or not a child has some kind of health problem, the level of detail in Benebot’s analysis is high and it can identify Covid and other illnesses such as the flu and chickenpox.

“It takes a shot of the eye, analyzes the redness, sees where it started, where it’s expanding. And thus it notices the relationship of each anomaly. It also does it for the hands and mouth,” Antonio Robles, the person in charge of Benebot technology, told EFE.

Mexico at present has suffered almost 2.39 million confirmed coronavirus cases and about 221,000 deaths from Covid-19, the latter figure making it No. 4 in the world in terms of its death toll.