A mobile robot has been produced that can detect the distance between people and can roll to remind them that they are very close. Although not exactly Robocop, this is a robot that makes you say you had to start somewhere. . .
University of Maryland, College Park PhD student Adarsh Jagan Sathyamoorthy and colleagues; they talked about this interesting robot, which can determine the distances between objects or people with depth perception, in PLOS ONE.
Because the robot is also mobile, it can be used to move towards people who are very close together in a crowded area, encouraging them to retreat to a safe distance. The article claims this was done “using an attached screen and with common sense”.
The authors set the distance as the CDC recommended two meters. But as scientists’ distance advice changes, the robot can be reprogrammed.
It probably sounds easy to spot the distance between fixed members of a crowd. However, Sathyamoorthy’s robot can achieve much more. The robot is capable of not only detecting ongoing violations of physical distance between people acting together, but also prioritizing those whom proximity makes it most easy to infect, such as larger groups.
The robot has proven effective on volunteers who mimic crowded scenes using its own cameras and LiDAR system, and it can also connect to CCTV cameras to make you feel like you’re being watched by ‘greats’.
In addition, this as-yet-unnamed robot is equipped with a thermal camera to detect people who potentially have a fever. Thanks to this camera, it not only allows these contacts to be kept directly to the top of the priority list for those who need to be kept separate, but also can use this information for contact tracking. The authors say this will be combined with anonymity systems to protect privacy.
The article acknowledges that the robot “cannot distinguish between strangers and members of the same household,” which may limit its usefulness where families are common.
Regardless of how effective such robots are in real-world situations, just knowing they’re there can be a deterrent to humans. And even this is potentially a candidate to be an effective method for disease control on its own. . .
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