China's unmanned smart hotels enable clients to do everything without human assistance

 
A new app would say if you’ve crossed paths with someone who is infected

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group opened FlyZoo Hotel in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in November 2018, an example of unmanned smart hotels where guests can book a room and do check in online using facial recognition, turn out the lights, draw the curtains or adjust the air conditioner, all without human assistance. The new services are possible thanks to robots equipped with artificial intelligence.

 

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Your purpose-driven manual for 2022
Your purpose-driven manual for 2022

It’s been quite the year, and (spoiler alert) there’s no guarantee that 2022 will be any less disruptive. Find out how to future-proof your business as we enter the post-pandemic era by reading TrendWatching’s 22 for ‘22 forecast, featuring trends and opportunities that will help you navigate 2022 and beyond.

What We've Learned From Reviewing +1,000 COVID Innovations
What We've Learned From Reviewing +1,000 COVID Innovations

Explore our key insights and learnings from reviewing over 1,000 COVID innovations. From common traits among the best and most inspiring COVID innovators to the various new COVID-triggered trends and business opportunities for the new normal.

London-based engineering and design firm Arup designs COVID-safe, modular parklets to help restaurants reopen
London-based engineering and design firm Arup designs COVID-safe, modular parklets to help restaurants reopen

Arup collaborated with the Liverpool city council and design-led greening consultancy Meristem Design to develop 'Liverpool Without Walls' scheme. The modular elements slot together to create outdoor seating areas made from hardwood, screened from each other with plants and perspex glass.

Architecture firm NBBJ envisions drive-through medical clinics that reduce contamination risks for patients
Architecture firm NBBJ envisions drive-through medical clinics that reduce contamination risks for patients

Called “The In Car Care Unit”, the drive-through clinic is conceived to be a midway point between tele-health, where doctors might miss critical symptoms, and physical clinic visits. It is designed to be easily deployed in hospital parking garages and would take up 60 feet of space (the amount of space between two columns in a hospital parking lot). The components of the unit could be prefabricated elsewhere and installed quickly on site.

UK-based baby wipes company WaterWipes launches Early Days Club, a virtual community for new and expecting parents during COVID
UK-based baby wipes company WaterWipes launches Early Days Club, a virtual community for new and expecting parents during COVID

WaterWipes is supporting new and expecting parents during lockdown by hosting virtual expert-staffed panels and providing community interaction through its Early Days Club virtual community.

Japanese startup Donut Robotics designs smart masks that connect to phones via bluetooth
Japanese startup Donut Robotics designs smart masks that connect to phones via bluetooth

The face mask, called 'C-Mask,' can be worn over regular, fabric-based masks. It connects to an app via Bluetooth, enabling it to transcribe speech to text messages, which are then sent via the user’s smartphone. It can also translate from Japanese into eight other languages and amplify the user’s voice, in case they are not heard through the mask.

Australian architect Zahava Elenberg designs Clikclax to make social distancing at work more play- and colorful
Australian architect Zahava Elenberg designs Clikclax to make social distancing at work more play- and colorful

Clikclax is a modular solution to help maintain social distancing rules at work while being cost-effective. It comes as a fully customizable social distancing kit that can easily be installed on desks, countertops, and workspaces of different sizes. It has been made light enough to be transportable and each kit consists of a series of 10 interlocking Perspex sheets in bright colors, plus six bases that can all be combined.

Polish company Bike2Box introduces temporary bicycle parking boxes to meet growing demand post lockdown
Polish company Bike2Box introduces temporary bicycle parking boxes to meet growing demand post lockdown

Bike2Box launched a modular bicycle parking box, which allows to transform a car parking slot into a locker accommodating 12 bicycles. It is designed to meet a growing demand in parking bicycles in post lockdown era, when people return to offices and seek for safe ways to commute. It’s quick, safe, uses existing spaces, does not require any mounting and can be rented for as long as needed.

Specialist at Annenberg School for Communication creates virtual reality video demonstrating treatment for COVID patients
Specialist at Annenberg School for Communication creates virtual reality video demonstrating treatment for COVID patients

The digital design specialist made this video in order to prepare medical staff in remote locations to respond to a possible spike in cases. Virtual reality is an immersive technology that benefits medical personnel by generating a 3D, interactive environment in settings that are often hard to simulate with 2D graphics. Through surgery on a mannequin, the video depicts a doctor treating a COVID patient suffering from respiratory failure.

Heineken creates six-foot social distancing cooler for its Mexican sub-brand Dos Equis
Heineken creates six-foot social distancing cooler for its Mexican sub-brand Dos Equis

The 'Seis-Foot cooler' from Heineken are at the minimum length distance the US Government advices people should stand from each other. They will be given away as part of an activation for the sub-brand Dos Equis’ social distancing drive to highlight social distancing guidelines, and will be available in the US from July 3rd while supplies last.

Microsoft launches digital skills initiative, making available its educational content, to help those hit by COVID
Microsoft launches digital skills initiative, making available its educational content, to help those hit by COVID

Microsoft's new global skills initiative aims at bringing more digital skills to 25 million people worldwide by the end of the year. Microsoft plans to combine existing and new resources from its LinkedIn and GitHub units (learning content, certifications, job-seeking tools), as well as from inside the rest of the company, and make them available for free or cheaply to those who are interested in upskilling or retraining for new careers.

New MIT robot using UV light to kill COVID could be used to disinfect warehouses, schools, and offices
New MIT robot using UV light to kill COVID could be used to disinfect warehouses, schools, and offices

The system has already been used to sanitise the Greater Boston Food Bank. In tests, the robot covered a 4,000 square foot area of the warehouse within 30 minutes, providing enough light to neutralise around 90% of COVID particles. Teleoperators have first to teach the robot a route around the site, then it follows waypoints around a map of the venue. The next step is enabling the robot to adapt to changes in its environment.

E-commerce platform Grab partners with delivery company AtYourGate to provide new contactless in-airport services
E-commerce platform Grab partners with delivery company AtYourGate to provide new contactless in-airport services

This new service will offer flexibility to passengers who will be able to order food and beverage from their own devices while socially distancing. Grab’s platform allows guests to order through a variety of digital channels and AtYourGate will facilitate retail purchases being delivered to customers' gate while waiting for their flight.

Indian company Techmax Solution designs toucheless elevator panels to fight COVID
Indian company Techmax Solution designs toucheless elevator panels to fight COVID

Thanks to this panel, called “Sparshless”, no one needs to touch elevator buttons anymore. According to the company, it can work with all existing lifts, no modification is required. Instead of disinfecting the lift everyday, this innovation could easily help stop the spread of the virus in appartments, hotels, malls, hospitals, offices and more places.

UN launches 'Pause' campaign to fight misinformation, particularly on COVID pandemic
UN launches 'Pause' campaign to fight misinformation, particularly on COVID pandemic

The campaign asks people who are about to share social media content to pause. The idea is for people to 'take care before you share", to try stop the spread of misinformation by enabling a personal behaviour change. The UN is working with social media platforms and technology companies on the campaign.

Senior living community Evin at Oconomowoc will feature hospital-grade air purification system
Senior living community Evin at Oconomowoc will feature hospital-grade air purification system

The senior living community, scheduled to open this fall at Oconomowoc, will have a very safe hospital-grade air purification system that is used by UW Hospital Madison and Mayo Clinic. The senior living community will also feature keyless locks, a video capable entrance system for visitors so residents can see who is visiting them, commercial laundry machines for a higher level of sanitation and a state-of-the-art whirlpool spa tub with FDA-recognized UV water purification system.

Stockholm-based developer Chris Mortimer helps drinkers to keep distance with pub app
Stockholm-based developer Chris Mortimer helps drinkers to keep distance with pub app

Mortimer’s app, BYEVID, enables Swedish drinkers to book their pub visit online, ahead of time, or to scan a QR code once in the bar, allowing owners to see if the venue has reached its safe capacity. Owners can vary the maximum number of customers, depending on the rules in their country. Information on what they do to keep the place clean during COVID will also be featured.

Xenex Disinfection Services launches StrikeForce to destroy COVID in two minutes
Xenex Disinfection Services launches StrikeForce to destroy COVID in two minutes

Organisations can engage Xenex’s team of experts on a project basis to utilize Xenex LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots to kill harmful viruses, bacteria and spores that stay on commonly touched surfaces and pose a risk for disease transmission. The robot uses a xenon lamp to generate bursts of high intensity, broad-spectrum (200-315nm) ultraviolet light that’s more intense than sunlight, and is proven to destroy the virus that causes COVID, in two minutes.

Diesel launches 360-degree selling platform and virtual showroom Hyperoom
Diesel launches 360-degree selling platform and virtual showroom Hyperoom

At Hyperoom, customers can buy the products in 360-degree displays or in 2D closeups with product descriptions. All Diesel’s products will be featured in the virtual store through a customised section of the platform, including the Spring and Summer 2021 Collections. Diesel believes the new virtual-store concept will be a solution for many fashion brands as it also reduces the amount of clothing samples required in stores.

IKEA and its research and design lab SPACE10 launch platform to imagine home designs post-COVID
IKEA and its research and design lab SPACE10 launch platform to imagine home designs post-COVID

The website, EverydayExperiments.com, showcases a series of digital experiments that explore new ways of how we interact with the spaces we live in. It demonstrates how our homes can be experienced in extraordinary ways through the means of technology, focusing on AI, Machine Learning, Augmented Reality and cutting-edge Spatial Intelligence.

Travel, Electronics & RoboticsFiona RaguenezAlibaba Group