巴黎 (CNN业务)If businesses are to get reluctant workers back into the office, finding ways to maintain social distancing will be key. An Israeli company thinks it can help, using smart sensors mounted on workplace ceilings.
PointGrab developed its technology before the pandemic to help workspace managers optimize how employees use office space. About the size of a smoke alarm, the sensors can record the exact number and location of people in buildings including offices, hotels and restaurants.
One of the company’s first clients was Deloitte, which installed the system at its flagship London office last year. PointGrab’s sensors were connected to screens in the building to show the availability of desks and shared areas in real time. PointGrab CEO Doron Shachar says it was one of a range of innovations that helped Deloitte fit 30% more people into 3% less space.
A PointGrab sensor, around the size of a smoke alarm.
Now PointGrab has adapted the technology so the sensors can also monitor social distancing by keeping track of how far apart people are, and whether they’re traveling in one direction around a building.
Workspace managers can set up alerts for when two people are closer than two meters for more than 30 秒, 例如. “An organization will choose what to do with that alert,” Shachar tells CNN Business. “I don’t think that they should blow an alarm.”
The sensors have been included in the “six feet office” concept created by real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield to encourage employees to practice social distancing. They are currently being used in this way at a university in the Netherlands, and at an innovation hub in Belgium.
Photos: How Covid-19 is changing the way we work
The pandemic is changing how we work, and causing businesses to rethink the workplace. “Work gyms” such as Caveday are becoming increasingly popular. Users join a group Zoom call, leave their cameras on and work alongside other members for a specified time period. The concept is based on the theory of “social accountability” — with someone watching, you’re under more pressure to focus.
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Photos: How Covid-19 is changing the way we work
If a standard Zoom call doesn’t work for you, you could try the Virtual Reality version developed by US-based company Spatial. Users create an avatar by uploading a photo of their face and — while wearing a VR headset — they are able to interact with the life-like avatars of friends or coworkers. Users can move between different virtual rooms and collaborate as if they were meeting in person.
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Photos: How Covid-19 is changing the way we work
Office space is being re-imagined. Rather than featuring open floor plans and shared workspaces, new designs are facilitating social distancing. Cushman & Wakefield, a real estate firm, has designed a “6 feet office” concept to help its clients prepare for the return of employees. It includes clear one-way traffic flows and individual workstations centered in 6-foot bubbles.
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Photos: How Covid-19 is changing the way we work
Or perhaps offices will be full of people working in air-tight pods. Egyptian architect Mohamed Radwan designed the “Qwork-Pod,” hexagonal cubicles that can be arranged in a hive-like layout, complete with automatic doors controlled by facial recognition, and ventilation fans with built-in air purifiers. The whole structure is made of non-porous materials that can be easily disinfected.
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Photos: How Covid-19 is changing the way we work
Workplace lunches could also look very different. Instead of cafeterias or buffets, we may see socially distanced lunches like those provided by Relish, an app launched by online catering service ezCater. It lets employees order from a selection of local restaurants, then delivers individually boxed meals all at once at a designated place and time, to minimize traffic in and out of the office.
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Photos: How Covid-19 is changing the way we work
Chowbotics — a California-based tech startup that sells robot vending machines — says it has seen an uptick in demand for its fresh food robot “莎莉,” which serves custom-made salads, grain bowls and a variety of yogurts. Pre-pandemic, Sally was used most regularly in hospitals, but now it’s replacing the salad bars in some office cafeterias.
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Photos: How Covid-19 is changing the way we work
A safe return to the office could involve AI technology that tracks employees’ movements to help enforce social distancing and contact tracing. Tech company Camio has built image-detecting software for existing surveillance cameras — it can track both how close employees get to each other and if they’re wearing a mask.
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Photos: How Covid-19 is changing the way we work
Israeli company PointGrab has designed ceiling-mounted sensors that can tell the exact location and number of people within a given space. The smart sensors are able to monitor social distancing and if people are traveling in one direction around the building.
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Other companies have developed different approaches to the problem. US tech company Camio, 例如, uses image-detecting software that works with surveillance cameras to track how close together employees are and whether they’re wearing a mask.
Maintaining privacy
While the social distancing innovation is new, PointGrab has deployed more than 10,000 sensors for workspace optimization, including in the offices of Coca-Cola, Facebook and Dell.
Workers might not like the idea of being monitored, but PointGrab says no images or identifying features are recorded. 代替, each employee is represented as an anonymous dot on a dashboard.
“The sensor does not violate people’s privacy,” Shachar says. “This is extremely important in the workspace.”
Privacy is a key consideration for many of the facility management services and software providers that PointGrab partners with. Spacewell, a building management software provider, chose to incorporate PointGrab’s technology into its smart building platform partly because of its ability to anonymize data.
“We do a lot of business with health care companies and financial service providers, so it’s very important to make sure that you don’t have any images or any data leaving the device,” Spacewell managing director Adrian Weygandt tells CNN Business.
While smart sensors alone may not be enough to get workers back to the office, Shachar believes they could help companies take the first step.
“What you need in order to actually comply with social distancing rules is exactly what we provide,” says Shachar. “That is understanding, in real time, where people are located.”
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