iRobot and InTouch Health Launch RP-VITA Telemedicine Robot

InTouch Health, the leader in acute care remote presence telemedicine, and iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT), a leader in delivering robotic technology-based solutions, announced the companies will unveil the breakthrough RP-VITA (Remote Presence Virtual + Independent Telemedicine Assistant) at the InTouch Health 7th Annual Clinical Innovations Forum, to be held July 26 – 28 in Santa Barbara, CA. The RP-VITA is the first remote presence solution for patient care that combines the latest in telemedicine technology from InTouch Health with the latest in autonomous navigation and mobility developed for the iRobot Ava™ mobile robotics platform. For the hospital market, the RP-VITA improves patient care by ensuring the physician is in the right place at the right time and has access to the necessary clinical information to take immediate action.

The RP‐VITA offers doctors the ability to take command of any clinical, patient or care team management process remotely. It provides a new level of mobility, utility and ease of use for healthcare professionals in the acute care market.

ome of the RP-VITA’s new and unique features include:

* An enhanced navigation capability that enables the RP-VITA to better manage driving and navigation elements so the health care professional can put more focus on patient care tasks. State‐of‐the-art mapping and Obstacle Detection Obstacle Avoidance (ODOA) technologies allow safe, fast and highly flexible navigation in a clinical environment.
o An additional capability for the RP-VITA incorporates autonomous navigation and is being submitted to the FDA for 510(k) clearance. This capability will allow a remote clinician or bedside nurse to send the RP-VITA to a target destination with a single click, enabling a number of breakthrough clinical applications. InTouch Health anticipates clearance for this feature in Q4 2012.
* Real-time access to important clinical data, enabling a range of new workflow improvements for physicians, nurses and other patient care team members. For example, the RP-VITA can be integrated with live patient data from the electronic medical record and is equipped with the ability to connect with diagnostic devices such as otoscopes and ultrasound. It comes equipped with the latest electronic stethoscope.
* A new, simple to use iPad user interface will enable quick and easy navigation to anywhere the RP-VITA needs to go, as well as interaction with the patient, family and care team.

InTouch Health envisions that the expandable RP-VITA platform will provide additional value in orchestrating team-wide care, as a clinical assistant to enhance efficiency and quality, and as a patient advocate to enhance the care experience.

“The RP-VITA is a game changer for acute care telemedicine, and it will become the cornerstone for many new clinical applications and uses. The RP-VITA is a platform that will immediately improve existing healthcare delivery models, and through additional collaboration and development will create new clinical innovations that we can only imagine,” said Yulun Wang, Ph.D., InTouch Health’s Chairman and CEO.

“While this represents our first foray into the healthcare market, the RP-VITA represents a robust platform, and we foresee many future opportunities in adjacent markets. Robots like the RP-VITA and iRobot Ava are easy to use and able to autonomously navigate real world environments. They lend themselves to a wide variety of applications in home, retail, industrial and other settings,” said Colin Angle, Chairman and CEO of iRobot.

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