Helios is a system enabling robotic, self-driving hospital beds, combined with social distancing sensors, to safeguard hospital staff when moving infectious patients around hospitals.
DCE has utilised its experience in the military, agricultural and nuclear industries to repurpose its technology to respond to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.
The Helios system works by retrofitting a drive control system to an existing hospital bed and giving an accompanying staff member a sensor to wear. The staff member walks three metres ahead of the bed and the sensor tells the bed to follow, guiding it safely through the hospital building. This means a second staff member does not need to be pushing the bed/accompanying the patient and so reduces the number of people needed to transport a patient by 50%, also halving the risk of virus exposure to hospital staff and freeing up staff to focus on other tasks.
