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Coronavirus outbreak paralyzed numerous cities all over the world and made people reconsider their safety when being in public places. Social distancing has become a norm necessary to keep us all healthy. That is why everything contactless will be a huge trend in the upcoming years. And there is no better way to create contactless things than using IoT technology. If previously it mainly was utilized to create a smart environment inside people’s houses or big corporations’ offices, now IoT will be present everywhere. This technology can be on guard of remote learning, health monitoring, preserving public safety, offering contactless services, and minimizing the risks of infection.
To prove our point we have found the report of Statista demonstrating that the spendings on IoT will reach $1100 billion by 2023. However, the consequences of a pandemic can make those numbers grow even more. Why? Because more and more companies started investing in IoT powered solutions.
The most interesting IoT use examples
Now we all are put in quarantine and all our contacts with other people or potentially infected surfaces are minimized. But we should understand that quarantine will be over soon and we all will return to the usual way of living. So it is crucial to consider applying innovative technologies in every sphere. If you still have doubts about whether IoT can be helpful in real everyday life (not only when you’re at your smart house), get ready to be reassured. IoT is the best technology worth investing in. 2020 will become a year of smart solutions and if you’ve been thinking about developing your IoT solutions, it’s high time to do this!
We have collected the most interesting examples of IoT solutions that our society needs the most. So take a look and get inspired.
Drones and robots are on guard of health
When coronavirus began attacking more and more cities and people, China took actions and started using drones and robots for healthcare purposes. Drones sprinkled streets with disinfecting liquid, delivered medical samples, monitored the streets, and warned people about violations of regime.
At this time robots also worked for healthcare. They did grocery shopping for isolated people, delivered foods and goods, sterilized medical buildings from inside, patrolled the streets. For example, UVD Robots (Danish company) provided China with numerous robotic helpers which created virtual maps of the space, estimated the time needed to disinfect the room, and did their job in 10-15 minutes. People could control such robots remotely through the device, which is quite time-saving.
Check out some more brilliant examples in the video showing how smart technology was used to combat COVID-19.
Smart devices to keep you safe
In times of pandemic, it is important to constantly control yourself and minimize touching your face or surfaces around you. So IoT powered devices help to do this and even add some engagement elements.
Let’s take a new invention – wrist band Pavlok. It can shock you with a small current of electricity. So an algorithm of such punishment is quite simple – you insert bad habits and get electrically punished every time you do a certain action. In such a way you can minimize touching of your face in times of pandemic, etc.
Two more great IoT inventions are smart sinks and mirrors. While the first ones can control soap dosage and water flow to make sure you are washing your hands properly, the mirrors can turn on countdown so that you can wash hands no less than 30 seconds as it is required to remove all viruses and bacteria. There are also smart sanitizing carpets that can be soaked with disinfecting liquid and have built-in weights to keep you standing on the carpet 10 seconds or more to sanitize your shoes properly.
The elevator buttons and doorknobs are the dirtiest things you can touch during your day. Thanks to IoT there is no need to risk your health anymore! Voice control in the elevators and contactless doors in the markets (and public places where an influx of people is observed) are two best inventions during the virus outbreak.
Smart watches and bracelets that can measure your temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure and perform early diagnosis are a must these days. They allow you to monitor your health daily and it is even possible to share your measuring results with a doctor or worried relative in a tap of a finger.
Smart air purifiers and sanitizers are what every company might need after quarantine is over and all people are back to the offices. Such devices can have built-in timers and tools for analyzing air quality. This is quite useful because the air will be timely cleaned and you should not even control the procedure all the time. Just set up a smart device and forget about it.
One more groundbreaking invention was introduced by a Chinese company (Kuang-Chi Technology) to help police officers identify possibly contaminated people in the crowd. This invention is a helmet with infra-red cameras that check the temperature on long distances (up to 5 meters). If there is a person with a high temperature nearby, then the audio notification will be turned on.
And all these IoT inventions are just a small part of all great things that can be built using this technology.
Conclusions
Modern challenges require up-to-date solutions and IoT technology is one of them. The pandemic showed us that many spheres of our life have to be modernized and made safer. Touchless will be a buzzword of the next few years and the popularity of IoT smart environments will keep growing. So if you had any revolutionary idea in your mind, it is time to turn it into reality.
