如果你看过电影《异形：契约》，你可能对机器人没什么好感。但是在这个疫情肆虐的时刻，机器人却成为了人类的好帮手。从扫大街到给病人量体温，越来越多的机器人加入了抗疫第一线的工作。
ROBOTS ARE OFTEN CAST in popular science fiction as the villains – soulless automatons that take over the world and enslave mankind. But with the onset of the global coronavirus pandemic, robots are increasingly being employed as helpers, taking on often dull, difficult and dangerous tasks and thus reducing humans' exposure to COVID-19.
在热门科幻片中，机器人经常以反派的角色出现——统治世界、奴役人类，没有灵魂。然而，随着新冠肺炎疫情袭击全球，机器人越来越多地被当做助手，承担起通常单调、艰巨和危险的任务，从而减少人类和新冠病毒的接触。
Across the world, robotics companies are teaming with health care providers and government officials to develop technological solutions for dealing with the global health crisis. In China, robots with tank-like tread have rolled down streets spraying disinfectant. In at least one hospital in South Korea, robots are being used to check patients' temperatures and dispense hand sanitizer. In Tunisia, authorities have deployed robots to ensure people are obeying the lockdown.
在世界各地，机器人公司正与医疗卫生机构和政府官员合作研发技术产品来应对这场全球健康危机。在中国，像坦克一般滚动前行的机器人在街道上喷洒消毒水。在韩国的多家医院，机器人被用于检测病人的体温和分发洗手液。在突尼斯，政府部署了机器人以确保人们遵守隔离规定。
In the United States, two of the principal ways in which robotic technology is being used to fight the pandemic are to disinfect hospital rooms and to act as a telemedicine portal, allowing doctors and health care workers to communicate via video conference directly with patients without unnecessarily exposing themselves to the highly contagious virus.
在美国，机器人技术被用来抗击疫情的两个主要方式是给医院病房消毒和作为远程医疗平台，让医生和医护人员可以通过视频会议直接和病人交流，又可以避免接触到这种高传染性的病毒。
In Boston, doctors, researchers and robotics engineers have teamed up to bring a friendly, dog-like robot named Spot into Brigham and Women's Hospital, allowing doctors to interact with COVID-19 patients via telemedicine.
在医生、研究人员和机器人工程师的合作下，友好的机器狗“斑点”进入了波士顿的布里格姆女子医院，让医生可以通过远程医疗系统和新冠肺炎患者进行互动。
While other technology companies have built robots with built-in screens that serve as the doctor's stand-in in health care settings, what sets Spot apart is its four-legged design, which allows the robot to move about easily in different settings, such as the triage tent set up outside the hospital.
尽管其他科技公司已经造出了有内置屏幕的机器人，可以在医疗机构中作为医生的替身，但是“斑点”的与众不同之处就在于它有四条腿，可以轻易地在不同的场地四处走动，比如医院外支起的分流帐篷。
In March, at the onset of the pandemic, a coalition from the hospital, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Spot's manufacturer, robotics firm Boston Dynamics, began developing and testing the robot's design to enable Spot to interact with patients, thus reducing the exposure of frontline health care workers to the virus. In the place of a head, Spot has an iPad affixed to a stand, allowing doctors to conduct telemedicine sessions with their patients.
今年三月疫情来袭时，该医院的联盟机构麻省理工学院和“斑点”的制造商波士顿动力机器人公司开始研发和测试这款机器人的新功能，让“斑点”可以和病人互动，从而减少一线医护人员和病毒的接触。“斑点”的“头”是一个固定在台子上的平板电脑，让医生可以对病人进行远程医疗服务。
"Most people actually really like it," says Dr. Peter Chai, an emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist who serves as the hospital's chief investigator on the robot project.
该医院机器人项目的首席调查员、急诊医师、医学毒理学家皮特·柴博士说：“大多数人还挺喜欢它的。”
Researchers are working to increase the robot's diagnostic abilities, enabling it to gauge the patient's temperature and measure his or her respiratory rate.
研究人员正致力于提高这款机器人的诊断能力，让其可以给病人量体温和呼吸频率。
Chai predicts that hospitals will continue to find ways to use robots even after the coronavirus pandemic subsides, whether it be through delivering supplies to rooms or seeing patients with other contagious diseases.
柴博士预计，在疫情过去之后，医院也会继续探索使用机器人的方式，无论是让机器人运送物资到病房，还是为有其他传染病的患者诊治。