An Integrated Sensorized Platform for Environmental Monitoring in Healthcare

Abstract

Indoor air quality monitoring is vital for ensuring high-quality healthcare services and minimizing the presence of harmful pollutants and environmental factors that could potentially impact on the well-being of individuals in hospitals. To address this need, the authors developed the transparent robot (TR): an integrated sensorized platform designed for indoor environmental sensing. This Internet-of-Things (IoT)-based platform serves as a modular system that can be installed on robotic platforms, enabling both static and dynamic monitoring of indoor spaces. In the context of a smart hospital, the TR can be integrated with the hospital's software architecture. It collaborates to generate a secure dataset of monitored data and can promptly notify healthcare professionals about any parameters that fall outside acceptable level. By utilizing this IoT-based device's features, hospitals can ensure a safer environment. The system's effectiveness and usability were preliminary demonstrated, showcasing its potential for further development; for instance, by incorporating additional sensors and algorithms, the TR can provide a probabilistic estimation of the likelihood of certain conditions based on the sampled environmental parameters.