{"id":3095,"date":"2020-03-22T22:10:47","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T02:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roborn.com\/?p=3095"},"modified":"2020-05-08T10:55:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T14:55:41","slug":"scmp-what-recession-hong-kong-start-up-sees-boon-making-robots-that-take-body-temperatures-amid-coronavirus-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roborn.com\/?p=3095","title":{"rendered":"SCMP: What recession? Hong Kong start-up sees boon making robots that take body temperatures amid coronavirus pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Roborn Technology robots can replace more intrusive hand-held machines<\/li><li>Hong Kong firm expects orders for up to 100 robots as coronavirus leads to fever checks<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1200x800\/public\/d8\/images\/methode\/2020\/03\/22\/c30dab22-6bf5-11ea-9de8-4adc9756b5c3_image_hires_152818.JPG?itok=I-NC-VQm&amp;v=1584862104\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption> 5G-enabled mobile robot scanning people&#8217;s body temperature. Photo: K. Y. Cheng <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The coronavirus pandemic has brought many businesses to their knees. But one Hong Kong start-up has never been so busy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Roborn Technology, a two-year old Hong Kong robotics technology firm, has thrown all of its engineers behind a project to design and produce a robot that measures body temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It started on January 25 \u2013 Lunar New Year\u2019s day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was five days after President Xi Jinping ordered all levels of government to step up measures to enable early discovery, reporting, quarantining and treating of the infected, and two days after Wuhan \u2013 the epicentre of the outbreak \u2013 was locked down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe started to design the mobile robot on January 25, and it took us 15 days to complete the prototype\u2019s infrastructure, artificial intelligence and back-office software,\u201d co-founder Mark Mak Hin-yu told the&nbsp;<em>South China Morning Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> The robot\u2019s base is a so-called \u201cautomated guided vehicle\u201d that gives it mobility, above which two cameras \u2013 one for filming and one for thermal imaging \u2013 are mounted on retractable support poles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> Once someone\u2019s forehead area temperature exceeds a threshold, data will be sent to an operational centre of the robot\u2019s owner for a fast response or follow-up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> \u201cSome products in the market would trigger an alarm even when someone walks past carrying a cup of coffee, but our artificial intelligence software allows our robot to focus on a person\u2019s head for temperature checks,\u201d Mak said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Equipped with 5G internet data transmission capacity, the robot can produce live-streaming video at venue entrances for security staff of medical centres, government services providers, shopping malls and office buildings. It can replace manual temperature checking by workers using slow and intrusive hand-held devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pilot deployment of the robots has been conducted at the head office of Hong Kong\u2019s Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, a facility of the Correctional Services, Ko Shan Theatre run by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Admiralty licensing office of the Transportation Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Privacy issues are handled by the robots\u2019 customers, Mak said, and they have different data requirements and practises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSome just want live-streaming for alerts with no video recording, while others want all data \u2013 including the number of passers-by \u2013 recorded and kept for follow-ups,\u201d Mak said. \u201cWe provide flexibility for them to pick and choose, as we can do the whole spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Roborn, whose 16 experts and engineers have been developing robots to do such things as deliver hospital drugs, help the elderly and manage properties, has put aside existing projects to focus on the body temperature measurement robot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have to prioritise this project, because such robots would facilitate the reopening of schools and workplaces, which is very important for our society,\u201d Mak said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asked if Roborn \u2013 set up in 2017 \u2013 would raise more funds for business expansion, he said: \u201cWe have been funding the business with our own money so far and getting new investors is not a focus. But we never close our door to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/business\/article\/3076311\/what-recession-hong-kong-start-sees-boon-making-robots-take-body\">SCMP<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roborn has produced a robot that measures body temperature. Once someone\u2019s forehead area temperature exceeds a threshold, data will be sent to an operational centre of the robot\u2019s owner for a fast response or follow-up. Roborn&#8217;s artificial intelligence software allows the robot to focus on a person\u2019s head for temperature checks, unlike some products in the market which would trigger an alarm even when someone walks past holding a hot object.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roborn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roborn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roborn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roborn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roborn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3095"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.roborn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3161,"href":"https:\/\/www.roborn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095\/revisions\/3161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roborn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.roborn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roborn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.roborn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}