US: Robot sent for detecting coronavirus gets 'kicked out' of park for lack of permit

A five-foot-tall robot, built to detect coronavirus in the United States, was reportedly kicked out from a park in Manhattan after it was unable to produce required permits for operating in the premises. The robot, created by Pennsylvania-based company Promobot, arrived at Bryant Park to detect possible cases of coronavirus but got barred due to lack of requisite paperwork.

The droid has been designed to ask a set of pertinent questions regarding people’s health and detecting symptoms through interactive surveys. According to Oleg Kivorkutsev, Promobot founder, the robot helps spread awareness about the deadly coronavirus and warn them of resembling symptoms, reported New York Post. 

However, the bot was unable to convince the concerned authorities at Bryant Park Corp. They maintained that any commercial entity, be it human or robot, needs permission to carry such operations. Earlier, a similar bot was seen distributing surgical masks to people at Times Square to help them prevent from catching the deadly virus.

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Several versions of the bot are available in the market with a starting price of $25,000. The bot has not detected any positive case of coronavirus in its previous survey involving 300 subjects. It also got unpopular reception on social media with many calling the robot “creepy” and “dystopic”.

Read: China Deploying Robots To Contain Spread Of Deadly Coronavirus

China relying on robots

China has turned towards robots to provide various services to prevent the spread of coronavirus. ‘Robot waiters’ were seen delivering food and supplies to quarantined patients and now a Shanghai-based enterprise has deployed 30 disinfection robots in various hospitals in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, a Chinese news agency reported. Currently, these robots have been deployed in isolation wards, ICUs, operating rooms and fever clinics in major coronavirus treating hospitals.

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