(Below is a translation of the article)
Due to the challenges of the novel coronavirus epidemic, the Secretary of the Development Bureau Wong Wai Lun posted on his blog yesterday that the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) launched an anti-epidemic thematic page on their platform to reach out to innovation and technology companies for the development of new technology projects to fight against the epidemic. Among the projects, a local technology company developed a mobile body temperature detection robot, which can quickly identify the potentially infected within the community. The robot has been applied to the main entrance of the EMSD headquarters since the beginning of this month.
EMSD established “E&M InnoPortal” in 2018 to pair up government departments and public institutions with finished products by local tech startups according to their needs. The department has also provided testing venues for the projects. In response to the epidemic situation, the Department launched an anti-epidemic thematic page on their platform and posted a series of anti-epidemic related innovative technology requirements on their special page, such as the development of mobile body temperature measurement robots and indoor disinfection robots to replace manual operation; the development of robots which can deliver catering, medicine, and documents to patients or people under quarantine, thereby reducing the risk of close contact and infection between people. At the same time, the Department stepped up to contact innovation strategic partners.
The Secretary of EMSD Sit Wing Hang said they did not expect to receive over a hundred related solutions in just a mere two weeks.
To prevent the epidemic from spreading, identifying the potentially infected within the community is of utmost importance. The mobile body temperature detection robot was a project developed by a local technology company in Cyberport, which was an innovation strategic partner contacted by EMSD through the online platform. The company’s co-founder Poon Ka Yeung said that he and his colleagues began working on the first day of Lunar New Year and used 15 days to produce a mobile robot which combines artificial intelligence and can provide automatic body temperature detection to replace manual operation for the task. The robot is designed to be equipped with agility in deployment; it can walk along routes set on the map and according to different environments and is especially suitable for places without fixed gates or with crowds waiting. Once it detects a person with abnormal or higher body temperature, the robot will display a red image on the monitor and an alarm will be sent to alert management staff to take follow-up actions.
When the Government resumed normal operation on 2 March, EMSD tested the robot at the main entrance of the EMSD Headquarters. After four consecutive days of testing, the results in monitoring body temperatures were satisfactory. The robot is compatible with Wi-Fi and 4G networks and therefore can carry out missions under different environments, which greatly reduces the workload of manually measuring body temperature. EMSD has arranged to test robots of the same type at various government departments, such as the Correctional Services Department, Transport Department and Leisure and Cultural Services Department.
Source: Lion Rock Daily