High-tech used to fight coronavirus
Changsha is using the latest technology to resume a safe work and living environment with unmanned aerial vehicles, intelligent driving and 3D printing.
A small driverless vehicle travels between a canteen and companies in an industrial park of Changsha. Workers scan a QR code on the car to retrieve their meals. The so-called "contactless delivery" is favored during the COVID-19 outbreak to avoid human-to-human transmission. Changsha Xingshen Intelligent Technology, maker of the car, said the vehicle can deliver 200 meals a day. The product was put on the market on Feb 11. Before, the company's driverless delivery car worked in Hubei province, the hardest-hit area of the outbreak, delivering mail.
When people and companies resumed work, the flow of visitors at residential communities became denser. At a community in Changsha, an unmanned aerial vehicle flies above to monitor the area and broadcast information about epidemic control from time to time. It can also check the body temperature of residents using infrared thermal imaging technology. If someone's temperature surpasses 37.3 C, the machine will send an automatic alarm.
Besides this, robots are used in local communities to clean garbage cans, chairs and fitness equipment to protect sanitation workers. Cowa Robot, the company that built the robot, said it can disinfect public facilities with an airbrush while driving through the community by itself.
Goggles are a necessity for medical staff fighting the outbreak, and they were facing a nationwide shortage of supply. Hunan Vanguard Group stepped in and figured out a way to produce medical goggles with its 3D printing technology within seven days. Yang Kai, general manager of the additive manufacturing department of the company, said their weight is three-fourths of standard goggles and can be customized based on data from the human face.
Now more than 50 of their 3D printing machines are running 24 hours a day to produce more than 300 goggles every day, according to Yang.
Li Haiqing contributed to this story.