Expeto Selected by Digital Technology Supercluster to Power Virtual Healthcare in Canada

By AIT News Desk On Jun 12, 2020

Expeto Nextworking platform delivers networking over 4G/5G networks as part of a secure telerobotic system that could protect healthcare workers from contracting COVID-19.

Expeto joins the Digital Technology Supercluster to provide its enterprise-first networking solution over 4G/5G networks to provide a secure communications system to enable the safety of healthcare workers through remote care. Initially, this system is being used to connect healthcare professionals to robots capable of performing physical examinations of patients, using digital medical tools deployed within health authorities in British Columbia.

Canadian healthcare workers are three times more likely to contract COVID-19 than the general public. There is an urgent need to protect their well-being to ensure continuity of the healthcare system. Long-term care facilities have had multiple cluster outbreaks and have been the source of more than 80 percent of COVID-19 fatalities in Canada.

The Digital Technology Supercluster is investing $60 million to work with Canadian companies, post-secondary institutions and not-for-profit organizations to improve the health and safety of Canadians by supporting Canada’scommitment to address the COVID-19 outbreak while building expertise and capacity to respond to future urgent situations.

The project is working to test remotely operated general-purpose robots, using Expeto’s secure connectivity solution, in long-term care and clinic settings using standard, off the shelf tools such as digital stethoscopes and non-contact biometric monitoring. Secure, reliable and fast connectivity is essential to support the virtual healthcare application, ensuring the security and confidentiality of patient information.

“We are excited to work with Sanctuary AI on this groundbreaking Virtual Healthcare solution, delivering the critical connectivity between remote healthcare workers and robots, ensuring the safety and security of the patient and healthcare worker, while protecting patient data,” explains Michael Anderson, CEO, Expeto.

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Expeto has partnered with a number of reputable organizations as part of the project, including the project lead Sanctuary AI, along with the University of British Columbia, the AInBC, a national communications & media company and a major technology company.

“Currently, there is no technology that allows remote workers to participate in the economy to perform physical work. Sanctuary and Expeto are utilizing advances in robotics and AI to create a foundation for digital job growth that can help drive Canada’s economic recovery from COVID-19,” delights Suzanne Gildert, CTO, Sanctuary AI.

In hospital settings, workers will trial a real-world telerobotic system to conduct physical exams. The initiative expands the current capabilities of telework technology – currently limited to video and audio interactions – to make physical interactions possible by connecting and controlling general-purpose robots through secure 5G/LTE networks.