Hope you are reading this inside your homes. And not while taking a walk outside. Or even if you are outside to get some essentials and now that you have used your phone, you will make sure to sanitize it.
Ohhhhhhhhhhh you knew that…..Ok.
I have been googling around how technology is being used in the fight against COVID19 in 2020. Get it?
I have seen numerous examples of how people have been putting out files online for free which you can 3d print to use as face shields. You can easily 3d print the head mount and if you don’t have a transparent acrylic sheet lying around, then hopefully you still have some 2 litre coke pet bottles around and can cut and use them as the shield in front of your face.
I will post some links of these in the description and if you own a 3d printer right now and feel a little charitable with the filaments you own……then maybe you can help a few people around. Just found this 1 more video where this guy shares the whole process of this more advanced 3d printed mask.
The other thing is obviously how fast we are getting updates on the numbers of cases published all over the world. So let’s take an example of how this india covid tracker works. It basically takes data from state bulletins and official handles. This data is then cross checked by a team of volunteers working for the site. And then this very well known worldometer site takes data from this and another indian site and accumulates all the data on their page from many other countries like this too. This is extremely beneficial. If you understand what is the number of cases in your state or city, you would probably be a little more cautious than before. Hence this data is crucial.
**Folding@home
I am no expert in biology but then there are companies like folding@home which are working for a cause to use your idle compute power from your workstations, PCs etc, in simulating the dynamics of covid 19 proteins to hunt for new therapeutic opportunities. And yes, i have no idea of what I had just said. I will post their links below so that you can read more on it. And also a link to one of the Linus video where he shared how much power your CPU can actually consume in this task.
Spoiler alert: it’s not as much as you’d imagine but those circumstances keep changing. They actually attained a speed of over 470 petaflops, which is more than the top 7 supercomputers of the world combined.
So yeah, if you wanna feel like helping goku in his spirit bomb then this is your chance. I mean, how much work you do on your “work”station anyway.
**Some cities around the world have started putting ankle monitors on quarantined people to check if they are taking this self isolation seriously or not. Modern problems need modern solutions 😀
**I went through this very interesting thread and sudden growth in the users of Slack and how the world is being benefited by this organizational tool. It’s now suddenly being more used as a work from home tool. This and many other tools like Microsoft teams, which is mostly free at the moment, is also letting people manage their work and projects remotely after a brief period of learning.
If you have no idea of what these are then just look for their usage on youtube and you would love how much better these tools are to manage work and better than Gmail. I am just happy using them because they let me enjoy the comfort of my home with no stress of facing the daily traffic outside.
Or a lot of humans.
**Zensors which uses computer vision techniques to determine, lets say, how many chairs are vacant right now in a restaurant is also giving its services free for the next 2 months to few selected entities, in determining let’s say if people are standing close or far apart, if there is a huge group somewhere where it shouldn’t be etc.
Pretty cool of them to offer their services free at the moment to few select channels so that proper social distancing can be maintained in intense areas. Much like China but with democracy of course.
**Many countries are also launching apps which can track your surroundings and based on the data fed by you, can alert you or the user near you if they are near a suspected person or a person just out of quarantine.
Or if you are going to visit a nearby area which has many cases in it, and hence you can stay more cautious. But I personally doubt the efficiency of these apps. What it’s really asking is that everyone around us should be ethically sane and honestly share what their status has been. Which I really doubt that a vast number of humans can actually do. But a good initiative nonetheless and maybe we might see some countries making them mandatory for the moment.
**People are also taking help of VR to work together and fight any sort of loneliness. Especially if they are mostly living alone. This app immersedVR lets you interact with your co workers in a VR environment. Chit chat, play music of your choice etc while you work in this virtual environment.
Another cool use of VR is how Oxford medical simulation can help medical professionals train in VR and is currently lending its VR simulation services for free to many hospitals and is currently training around 17000 medical professionals. These medical professionals are now using the companies VR simulations to brush up on their skills.
That’s all for today.Stay indoors, stay safe. MuBot out.
PS: I always love staying indoors anyway. Except for when I am on vacation.