UC Researchers Awarded $1.2 Million Grant To Develop Low-Cost, Easy-To-Operate Robots To Use In Post-COVID-19 World

Los Angeles CA

26 February, 2021

4:35 PM

Description

By CBSLA Staff, CBS Los Angeles February 26, 2021 IRVINE (CBSLA) — With COVID-19 expected to change the way people work and interact with each other for the foreseeable future, University of California researchers have been awarded a $1.2 million grant to develop robots that can conduct remote healthcare exams and keep people in quarantine connected with the world outside their homes. The grant was awarded to researchers at UC Irvine, UC San Diego, and UCLA. The project's goal is to develop easy-to-operate, low-cost UC Iris robots, particularly with Latino communities in mind because they have been hit hardest by COVID-19 in California. Rates of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths have dropped in recent weeks and vaccinations are underway across the country. But public health officials say variants that are increasingly circulating make it necessary for people to continue to wear masks and observe physical distancing guidelines. Read more at CBS Los Angeles