Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #498

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Singapore Deploys Robot ‘Dog' To Encourage Social Distancing
By Michelle Toh, CNN Business
Hong Kong (CNN Business)Singapo re is trying a new way to get its res- idents to stay away from each other.
On Friday, the government announced it would start deploying Spot, Boston
Dynamics' famou s yellow and black canine robot, at one local park.
The four-legged robot "dog" will patrol the area starting this weekend and broadcast a pre- recorded mes- sage to visitors to remind them of the importance of social distancing, authorities said.
The device will also be equipped with cameras that will scan the sur- roundings and help officials esti- mate the number of people gather- ing in parks, they said.
"These cameras will not be able to track and/or rec- ognize specific individuals, and no personal data will be collected," the government said in a state- ment.
The new measure is an experiment to improve enforcement of social distancing throughout Singapore as it contends with
an alarming recent spike in cases.
The pilot project is currently set to
run in a limited trial for two weeks at one park during off- peak hours. But if all goes well, authorities will consider expand- ing the program.
Not long ago, Singapore was being hailed as one of the coun- tries that had got- ten its coron- avirus response right.
Then the second wave hit. Clusters that government testing appeared to have missed quickly grew and the number of
daily cases shot up. Since March 17, Singapore's number of con- firmed coron- avirus cases grew from 266 to 21,707 cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
As the situation worsens, the gov- ernment has increasingly adopted technolo- gy in its response.
In March, it launched a nationwide con- tact-tracing app that uses
Bluetooth to help users find out if they had close contact with someone con- firmed to have been infected.
The government says it's also using Spot in another capacity — at a local isola- tion facility where the robot helps bring medicine to patients.
Spot, which went viral in a series of online videos sev- eral years ago showing that it could run uphill, mount stairs
and even get you
a drink, is gener- ally used for inspections on construction sites or similar situa- tions, according to Boston Dynamics.
It also has been deployed for pub- lic safety reasons, such as helping "inspect haz- ardous packages from afar," the company states on its website.
Singapore's gov- ernment said Friday that it had picked the model for its agility. "Unlike wheeled robots, Spot works well across different terrains and can navigate obstacles effec- tively, making it ideal for operation in public parks and gardens," it noted.
For now, at least one park ranger will be patrolling the area along with the robot, according to authorities.
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