As governments around the world encourage social distancing, they mostly have to deal with obstinate citizens who feel their freedom is being trampled upon. Singapore is deploying a robot dog to aid its efforts of making people maintain the required distance and limit the spread of COVID-19.
The robot dog, Spot is the brainchild of Boston Dynamics and is part of a pilot trial to encourage social distancing.
Spot is being deployed at one local park according to the government. The four-legged robot “dog” will patrol the park broadcasting a pre-recorded message to visitors. The message is targeted at reminding them of the importance of social distancing.
It will be fitted with cameras so as to scan the surroundings. The images will also help officials estimate the number of people gathering in the parks.
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“These cameras will not be able to track and/or recognize specific individuals, and no personal data will be collected,” Singapore’s government said in a statement.
The robot’s message is clear: “Let’s keep Singapore healthy. For your own safety and for those around you, please stand at least one metre apart. Thank you,” the robot says. Reuters describes its voice as that of a soft-spoken female.
Singapore says the robot dog will minimise “physical contact among staff, volunteer safe distancing ambassadors, and park visitors”. “This lowers the risk of exposure to the virus,” it also added.
Singapore is not having it easy with its handling of the Coronavirus. The country was initially hailed as it got its response right, however, another second wave of infections put an end to its progress.
The country’s number of confirmed coronavirus cases grew from 266 to 21,707 cases since March 2020.
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