At a meeting held at Vachira Phuket Hospital yesterday (Sept 16), provincial officials and representatives from CT Asia Robotics unveiled the ‘Pencil Robot’” billed as a step towards transforming Phuket from a Smart City into “Phuket AI City”.
The robot is designed to assist both outpatients and inpatients with a range of services, from checking medical history and booking appointments to securing treatment rights and symptom screening. It can connect patients with doctors via video call, monitor conditions, record medical orders and even perform preliminary breast cancer screening through breath analysis, explained an official report of the event.
A home version, the ‘Pencil Robot Mini’, aims to support children, adults and the elderly with 24-hour monitoring and social interaction functions, including music, games and Dharma sermons, the report added.
AI VISION
Governor Sophon used the occasion to promote a broader vision for Phuket as Thailand’s AI prototype city. He said artificial intelligence would be deployed to tackle issues including traffic, waste management, public health and food safety – in turn raising quality of life for residents and confidence among tourists.
“AI is not just a technology, but a tool of the future,” Gov Sophon said. “Phuket will not only be a world-class tourist destination, but also a ‘City of the Future’ that will utilise AI to drive all aspects of development.”
A highly promoted key feature of the event was the signing of an MoU between the Phuket Provincial office, the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation (PPAO) and CT Asia Robotics to advance the “Phuket AI City” initiative.
The primary objective of the MOU is to demonstrate the shared commitment of the public and private sectors to promote Phuket as a model city for artificial intelligence (AI) under the concept of "AI for All", said the official report of the signing.
“This aims to improve people’s quality of life, enhance competitiveness, and foster social, economic, and environmental sustainability. The goal is to develop Phuket into a Phuket AI City model city where all groups of people have equal access to and use AI.
“It also promotes the application of AI in four key areas: traffic management, waste management, and the environment. Food Safety, Medicine and Public Health, as well as to create an ecosystem conducive to investment, learning, and innovation in AI, and to drive the AI for All policy towards real results at the provincial, national, and international levels,” the report added.
VAGARIES
However, despite the fanfare, officials have yet to provide details on how many robots are being purchased, at which hospitals they will be stationed, or how patient data will be accessed across different healthcare facilities.
A small demonstration of the Pencil Robot’s abilities was conducted at Vachira Phuket Hospital, but no further information was released.
The robot is also not new to Thailand. Chulalongkorn Hospital already operates five Pencil Robots, Siriraj Hospital has 30, and more than 50 units are reportedly in use at private hospitals nationwide.
Dr Chalermpol Punnotok, CEO of CT Asia Robotics, said the Pencil Robot is the latest development in a long line of service robots created by the company since 2009, beginning with the ‘Dinsaw’ model. Initially designed to fill labour shortages in restaurants, the robots have since been adapted for healthcare, with Pencil launched in 2015 for elderly care.
According to the corporate website Dinsaw.com, in 2009 the company developed Southeast Asia’s first service robot, called “Dinsaw,” with the goal of having robots assist people in areas with staff shortages, particularly in healthcare.
In 2010, the company built 10 robots for use in MK restaurants, and by 2014 the company had produced 14 robots for a restaurant in Linköping, Sweden, to take orders and serve food to customers.
After several years of working with hospitals in Thailand and Japan, Dinsaw launched the ‘Pencil’ robot in 2015, designed to help care for the elderly. Today, Pencil robots are in use at hospitals, government medical universities and more than 50 private hospitals.
AI FOR ALL
PPAO President Rewat Areerob stressed that AI would be applied to everyday issues facing Phuket residents, not just to showcase advanced technology. He cited public health screening, traffic management, waste reduction and food safety as immediate areas where the province plans to adopt AI.
Dr Chalermpol added that the company’s mission is to make “AI for all” – a concept he hopes will help Phuket set a national benchmark for how technology can support healthcare and other services.
While officials heralded the launch as the start of a “new era for Phuket”, practical details on when and how residents will see AI robots at work remain unclear.