COVID-19 Isolation Control Proposal via UAV and UGV for Crowded Indoor Environments: Assistive Robots in the Shopping Malls

Abstract

Artificial intelligence researchers conducted different studies to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Unlike other studies, this paper isn't for early infection diagnosis, but for preventing the transmission of COVID-19 in social environments. Among the studies on this is regarding social distancing, as this method is proven to prevent COVID-19 to be transmitted from one to another. In the study, Robot Operating System (ROS) simulates a shopping mall using Gazebo, and customers are monitored by Turtlebot and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV, DJI Tello). Through frames analysis captured by Turtlebot, a particular person is identified and followed at the shopping mall. Turtlebot is a wheeled robot that follows people without contact and is used as a shopping cart. Therefore, a customer doesn't touch the shopping cart that someone else comes into contact with, and also makes his/her shopping easier. The UAV detects people from above and determines the distance between people. In this way, a warning system can be created by detecting places where social distance is neglected. Histogram of Oriented-Gradients (HOG)-Support Vector Machine (SVM) is applied by Turtlebot to detect humans, and Kalman-Filter is used for human tracking. SegNet is performed for semantically detecting people and measuring distance via UAV. This paper proposes a new robotic study to prevent the infection and proved that this system is feasible.

Role of Drone Technology in Alleviating the Pandemic and Disasters

“…Year System Purpose [18] 2019 UAV system to deliver medical drugs [19] 2020 UAV system for medical supply during disaster in Japan [9] 2021 UAV-based system to combat COVID [20] 2021 UAV-based system to monitor social distancing [21] 2021 UAV-based system to supply medical resources during epidemics [22] 2022 UAV-based smart visual sensing for overcrowding [23] 2022 UAV-based isolation control proposal for COVID…”

A Novel Social Distancing Approach for Limiting the Number of Vehicles in Smart Buildings Using LiFi Hybrid-Network

“…The robot operating system (ROS) mimics a retail mall using Gazebo in the research [ 34 ], and Turtlebot and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) keep an eye on the shoppers. A specific individual is recognized and followed around the shopping mall by Turtlebot, which does this by analyzing the frames it has captured.…”

“…The robotic concept can be utilized in a variety of settings, including hospitals, homes, COVID care centers, and quarantine centers, to monitor patients who are either symptomatic or asymptomatic while they are isolated. The robot operating system (ROS) mimics a retail mall using Gazebo in the research [34], and Turtlebot and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) keep an eye on the shoppers. A specific individual is recognized and followed around the shopping mall by Turtlebot, which does this by analyzing the frames it has captured.…”