Significance of IoT In a Pandemic
Problems posed by the Pandemic
The whole world is grappling with absolutely unanticipated times.
The pandemic outbreak has brought with itself such a huge paradigm shift; so much so that it has completely affected the way we perceive life and all aspects of it.
The pandemic has brought the whole world to a grinding halt. It demands caution and for us to adhere to the distance at all costs. The virus is known to be highly contagious hence ruling out the possibility of people coming in contact with each other. In times like these, it’s very difficult to carry out all processes and tasks manually as it poses a massive threat to the most precious thing to man- his life. Being of the 21st century, because of our hardwired brain, new technology has always been the first thing that comes to mind when we have to solve a crisis like this. It has made us realize the crucial role of communication; with both fellow humans as well as with ourselves is in our daily lives and the importance of the role of the internet in the same.
Due to this highly contagious virus, many patients have been flooding the hospitals. These institutions are being put through pressure, as they are falling short of crucial information and also effective manpower and management. Manufacturing necessary goods have also become a difficult task as people are not being allowed to go to their workplace in accordance with the safety regulations to be followed during this crisis.
As we can imagine, all this has been affecting our economy, our health, and our lifestyle drastically. But what if, the tasks we humans were supposed to do could be automated using machines and other devices which could communicate with each other. Interesting thought, isn’t it? That’s exactly how IoT steps in and provides major solutions for such a crisis. Right from healthcare to business analytics, IoT solutions have been adopted by many companies and countries all over the world. Let’s see how!
How does IoT help us?
IoT, along with other technologies like AI and Cloud, helps us in many ways. The first solution that has come to most of our minds (it definitely must have at some point) is to track people who are potential vectors.
The first parameter that we need to test is the body temperature. Unfortunately, since people are widely spread all over the world, it is difficult to manually track them down. Hence we could use a device integrated with the temperature sensor that continuously keeps track of a person and relays any critical information to the authorities concerned.
This solution has already been adopted by the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center(SPHCC). SPHCC in coordination with a few other hospitals in the region have collaborated for developing continuous temperature sensors. The same is also being applied to wearable tech all over the world.
i) Continuous temperature sensors by VivaLNK
They had to face many challenges to come up with an IoT based solution as monitoring patients requires medical personnel to-
- Come in contact with the patient
- Have frequent contacts (thus increasing vulnerability)
- Stay cautious as the patients transmit the disease before the symptoms even start to show up.
VivaLNK’s continuous temperature sensors provide real-time monitoring of any changes in the user’s body temperature. The info is relayed via the IoT access controller developed by Cassia to a nurse’s station so that it can be monitored carefully and with much ease.
The gateway allows up to 40 Bluetooth Low Energy devices to be paired simultaneously while providing long-range connectivity so that it can cover as much as possible.
ii) Smart bands to track patients
Hong-Kong has also adopted an interesting protocol to adapt to the current crisis and ensure proper containment of people. The Hong-Kong authorities tracked passengers arriving in the country and assigned them with a wrist band along with a QR code to track their movements.
This QR needs to be scanned by the user through an app called “Stay Home Stay Safe” on their mobile phones. Once the passengers reach their homes, they are expected to walk around the place for calibrating the device. It uses a technology called Geofencing. This technology creates a virtual perimeter using GPS, RFID, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cellular network.
This enables easy tracking of patients. The next challenge is to prevent them from coming in contact with potentially infected people. This problem has been addressed by researchers at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. They have also provided smart wearable solutions to solve this problem. They have developed a smart band that alerts users when their body temperature rises above 37.5 degrees.
Not only sensing temperature, but this band also goes even further. The band emits radio signals which can be read by another band worn by a different user when they are in a certain proximity. If one of the users has been noted for having an unusual temperature, the band vibrates thus alerting other users in its proximity to be cautious hence helping in achieving social distancing. The radio signal is 2.4GHz which is the same as that of Bluetooth. We can take this solution further by creating a mobile app, which enables this signaling system even if the user doesn’t happen to have the band.
Due to the lack of personal contact, people had to rely largely on internet-based applications for procuring medicines and other essentials and to contact doctors. This, in turn, overwhelmed the capacity of the technologies used for running those apps. According to Partner Healthcare, Boston, the average wait time on their hotline peaked to 30 minutes and many callers even dropped out within this time.
iii) Use of Chatbots for Effective Communication
Software firms in collaboration with hospitals and medical centers developed chat-bots on their websites and mobile apps. The chatbots were designed to ask the user, a series of questions and hence filter outpatients according to the severity of their conditions.
This paves way for medical personnel to devote their crucial time towards treatment, rather than answering the same questions repeatedly. The Providence St.Joseph Health System, Seattle developed such a tool with Microsoft which is said to have served over 40,000 patients in the very week it was deployed. “Bebot” is another such chatbot developed by a Japanese company Bespoke, which answers COVID-19 related questions.
iv) Use of Automated robots to provide essential services
The threat of getting infected is the highest in hospitals. Resources are extensively shared among a large number of people, which poses hazards to medical personnel. Say, for example, the sanitation workers.
They have to sweat it out and get every nook and corner of the place where it is all concentrated- the hospital; hence putting them at high risk. To solve this problem several companies have made self-driving bots. Companies like TMiRob, UVD(image is shown below), and Xenex Disinfection Services have created these bots, which disinfect surfaces using UV light, which kills the virus by tearing apart their DNA. They are controlled over Wi-Fi through mobile apps. They have been successfully deployed in countries like China, Italy, and the USA.
Relaying essential resources to all people effectively is also a big challenge in order to keep the economy running properly and to cater to the needs of everyone. However, achieving that is not quite easy as avoiding social distancing is not a feasible option. Here is where drones come into play. In Xinchang, China, drones have been used to fly medical samples and other quarantine materials.
Not only as a delivery medium, but these drones have also been used to monitor and enforce stay at home orders in countries like Spain and China. In Daegu, South Korea, drones have been used to disinfect highly contaminated hotspots.
v) The Wuhan Wuchang Smart Field Hospital
The measures taken by this hospital encapsulates the very idea of the use of IoT in solving this crisis that we discussed.
In the month of March 2020, China set up a smart field hospital in Wuhan to ease the work of the medical staff. The hospital in collaboration with CloudMind made use of an infrared thermometry system that would check people’s temperature as they entered the hospital. If a person showed suspicious symptoms, the AI platform integrated into the system would alert the human medical staff.
CloudMinds humanoid service robot, Ginger provided assistance in the hospital by addressing new admissions.
The delivery robot below has autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance system which is used for delivering food, drinks, and medicine to patients without personal contact.
These robots worked on an AI platform called HARIX(Human Augmented Intelligence with eXtreme Reality), which is synced with the bracelets and rings used by the patients. It monitored vital signs like heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and relayed the information to concerned nurses.
A Texas-based company Xenex Disinfection Services, has supplied this hospital with disinfecting robots. The LightStrike robots (shown below), as they call it, use UV light to disinfect guest rooms and common areas of COVID 19 and are remotely controlled. The company has not only supplied these robots to this particular hospital, but also to countries like Italy, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and South Korea.
The spokesperson of CloudMinds says, “These temporary field hospitals were used primarily to treat new incoming cases with light symptoms, with severe cases being transferred to hospitals. As the containment efforts have improved, and the number of new cases has decreased hospitals are now able to accommodate ALL new incoming cases.”
How can we at homes, fight this pandemic by adopting smart solutions?
The thumb rule to prevent this pandemic from getting worse is to just take care of ourselves and follow all norms of hygiene. Washing of hands frequently, wearing a mask while stepping out, and maintaining a distance while meeting anyone are a few ground rules to start with.
We can make use of IoT enabled smart lights, speakers, security systems, etc. as they would reduce the chance of coming in contact with objects; in turn, reducing the chance to get in contact with the virus.
Also, given the new scenario where online meetings and classes have become a huge part of our lives, IoT gives us the flexibility of video conferencing -simply by voice command.
Yes, 2020 has not been a great year so far (in terms of going out and having fun), but it did teach us a lot. For example, this pandemic has managed to greatly speed up the digitalization of Indian bank accounts by a 3 times rate. Most people have moved to digital modes for everything- be it payment, education, work, etc. It has given us a wider horizon and a better take on the way we live life. Difficult to believe? Try giving it a hard thought. You will surely get what I mean.
