The robot, connected with Vodafone's 5G, is able to circulate in environments where pedestrians are found and analyze whether they comply with safety regulations for the prevention of Covid, such as detecting whether pedestrians are wearing masks correctly or taking their body temperature.

The project has been developed jointly by Vodafone, which provides all the 5G connectivity infrastructure, Intel, which has collaborated with its Xeon SP and Core processors, and its OpenVINO tool, Fivecomm (a startup born within the Polytechnic University of Valencia), which has provided its remote driving solution on a mobile robot that has been integrated into the Vodafone 5G network, and Altran, a world leader in engineering and R&D services; and part of the Capgemini Group, which has provided the facial recognition and temperature measurement part.

Vodafone, Intel, Fivecomm and Altran have developed the 'Covid 5G Robot' project. The project is based on an autonomous self-guided vehicle ('Sentinel Robot') that integrates image and temperature sensors that allow it to perform very useful control actions in the current pandemic scenario. The aim of the project is to demonstrate how the use of 5G technology can provide intelligence to an autonomous robot equipped with a thermographic camera.

5G key to data processing
The 'Sentinel Robot' incorporates an image sensor that allows facial recognition to identify people who are not wearing masks, as well as a thermal camera that detects people with higher than usual body temperature. Thanks to Vodafone's 5G technology, this data is sent to a centralized control intelligence, located in the operator's network through Edge Computing technology, which facilitates an immediate response in milliseconds. 

The data is processed to generate alarms that can be handled at a remote control point. The remote operator can then manage those alarms through a series of actions, which work over the 5G network to - for example - converse with the identified person in real time through a device hosted on the Robot. The low latency and high performance scenario of Vodafone's 5G technology also allows remote driving of the robot from the control point to bring it closer to those people with whom it wants to interact more closely.

This project has been developed as another example of the capacity to generate new lines of business offered by 5G technology. In this case, the project has been created jointly by different companies or entities, each of them contributing their know-how in their expert field: Vodafone, which has provided all the 5G connectivity infrastructure, Fivecomm (start up born within the Polytechnic University of Valencia), which has provided its remote driving solution on a mobile robot to which it has integrated into the Vodafone 5G network, Altran, which has integrated the part of facial recognition and temperature measurement, as well as Intel, whose OpenVINO tool is based on specific artificial vision algorithms and whose Intel Xeon SP processors run the algorithms for analyzing the presence of masks and the temperature of pedestrians in real time. Microsoft has collaborated in the processing infrastructure in the cloud with its Azure Stack Edge solution.

A 5G Stand Alone network project
The environment in which this pilot has been developed is a 100% 5G environment with Core 'Stand Alone' architecture (5G SA), i.e. a totally independent 5G Core network to take full advantage of the latency and speed capabilities that 5G allows.

In addition, this project makes use of Edge Computing, which allows for a considerable reduction in communication latency. This is key in this type of service, since the information processing is performed in a network element very close to the place where the service is provided.

"This is, without a doubt, a real scenario where using Vodafone's 5G network is differential and allows us to offer the necessary latency and speed requirements. Over the coming months we will continue to develop new use cases to continue demonstrating the benefits of 5G technology in the social and economic sphere," said Daniel Jiménez, CEO of Vodafone Business. 

"The fundamental element for this robot to work is the 5G network. The low latency made possible by 5G makes it possible for pilots like this one to work with all the guarantees, making the transfer of images from the Robot to the control point in real time. Additionally, Edge Computing technology enables much faster transmission of images, which is key in projects like this," said Ismael Asenjo, Network and Technology Director at Vodafone Spain. 

"Collaboration with our partners in 5G, Edge and Artificial Intelligence enables innovative use cases like this Robot, with a clear social and economic benefit. Intel Xeon SP processors are optimized to run these new applications from the Edge to the Cloud, and our OpenVINO tool facilitates their development, accelerating their arrival to market," said Norberto Mateos Carrascal General Manager of Intel Iberia.

"Together, 5G and Edge Computing will take the Internet of Things to the next step. Thus, the low latency and high bandwidth of 5G will increase the versatility of machines to tackle increasingly complex tasks in real time. But it also reduces their cost and energy consumption by relieving them of the most demanding functions in terms of processing capacity, which are now carried out by specialized servers installed at the edge. The sentinel robot is a great example of this new paradigm by demonstrating how it is possible to provide a robot with capabilities not present in its initial design at an extremely reduced cost", Daniel Iglesias, COO Altran Spain.