Don't stand so close: Singapore trials automated drones to check
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
February 03, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2023
Don't stand so close: Singapore trials automated drones to check

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
06 August, 2020, 05:40 pm
Last modified: 06 August, 2020, 05:41 pm

Related News

  • Singapore's economy topped forecasts in 2022 but new risks growing
  • Singapore sentences stock market manipulator to 36 years in jail
  • New York, Singapore top 'world's costliest city' survey
  • PM seeks robust Singaporean investment in economic zones
  • Bangladeshi, Singaporean businesses explore collaboration, mergers

Don't stand so close: Singapore trials automated drones to check

Singapore’s police have been trialling two pilotless drones developed by Israel’s Airobotics to help enforce social distancing measures aimed at containing the spread of Covid-19

Reuters
06 August, 2020, 05:40 pm
Last modified: 06 August, 2020, 05:41 pm
An employee of Airobotics, an Israeli company which says it has developed two pilotless drones that are being trialled by Singapore's police to help enforce social distancing measures aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), works at the company's laboratory in Petah Tikva, Israel August 4, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
An employee of Airobotics, an Israeli company which says it has developed two pilotless drones that are being trialled by Singapore's police to help enforce social distancing measures aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), works at the company's laboratory in Petah Tikva, Israel August 4, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Beware, Singaporeans standing too close, automated drones might be keeping an eye on you from above.

Singapore's police have been trialling two pilotless drones developed by Israel's Airobotics to help enforce social distancing measures aimed at containing the spread of Covid-19.

The small machines weigh 10 kg (22 pounds) and are programmed to track anomalies such as gatherings and stream footage to the police.

The three-and-a-half-month trial, over an industrial estate in the west of the city, is the first time automated commercial drones have been approved to fly over a major metropolis, according to Airobotics.

"Specifically for Covid, what we are doing is helping them maintain normal operations," CEO Ran Krauss told Reuters. "The pandemic created a situation where it might be difficult for police to maintain operations."

Singapore government's Home Team Science & Technology Agency (HTX) said it had trialled the drones with police.

They can pinpoint locations and zoom into areas that might not be visible to police officers on foot or in vehicles, Senior Engineer Low Hsien Meng from HTX's Robotics, Automation & Unmanned Systems Centre, said.

Airobotics, which has raised $120 million in funding, said it had invested some $100 million to develop the drones. It was leasing them to HTX and also for business and industrial use in Israel and the United States, it said.

Airobotics and HTX have begun the next, year-long stage of the project to explore further capabilities, including using the drones to deliver defibrillators where needed, the company said.

Airobotics said the social distancing aspect of the trial was still ongoing. HTX did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

The tiny island nation, known for its strict laws and widespread surveillance, initially won global praise for containing virus spread before mass outbreaks in cramped migrant worker dormitories saw its caseload climb sharply.

Krauss said Airobotics is in talks with other cities to deploy the drones.

Singapore

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Let's be big enough to accept this economic gift
    Let's be big enough to accept this economic gift
  • Shipped Bhola gas to cost higher, yet cheaper than spot LNG
    Shipped Bhola gas to cost higher, yet cheaper than spot LNG
  • Infographic: TBS
    DNCC hospital asked to keep isolation ward ready as Nipah spreads to 28 districts

MOST VIEWED

  • Tourists ride a tour bus in Hong Kong, China October 25, 2019. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
    Hong Kong says 'hello' to woo back visitors after Covid
  • People wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak are seen at Beijing Daxing International Airport in Beijing, China July 23, 2020. Photo:Reuters
    Pandemic to paradise: Chinese tourists return to Bali after three years
  • People walk outside wearing masks during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Harlem area of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., February 10, 2022. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
    US to end Covid-19 emergency declarations on 11 May
  • A nurse prepares a shot for Jonathan Halter as the German embassy begins its roll out of BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines for German expatriates at a Beijing United Family hospital in Beijing, China January 5, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
    Covid remains a public health emergency, says WHO
  • FIKE PHOTO: Medical staff moves a patient into a fever clinic at a hospital, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Shanghai, China, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
    China approves two domestically developed Covid drugs
  • People walk with their luggage at a railway station during the annual Spring Festival travel rush ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Shanghai, China January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song
    Holiday trips within China surge after lifting of Covid curbs

Related News

  • Singapore's economy topped forecasts in 2022 but new risks growing
  • Singapore sentences stock market manipulator to 36 years in jail
  • New York, Singapore top 'world's costliest city' survey
  • PM seeks robust Singaporean investment in economic zones
  • Bangladeshi, Singaporean businesses explore collaboration, mergers

Features

Andy Mukherjee. Sketch: TBS

What makes India's billionaires' support special for Adani

8h | Panorama
Photo: Rejaul Hafiz Rahi

A jackal farewell

8h | Earth
The trio spearheading the revival of book cover designs

The trio spearheading the revival of book cover designs

9h | Panorama
Six Jeep Wranglers and a special XJ Jeep Cherokee set out into the depths of Lalakhal, Sylhet for an experience of a lifetime. Photo: Ahbaar Mohammad

Jeep Life Bangladesh: A club for Jeep owners to harness the power of their vehicles

1d | Wheels

More Videos from TBS

A proper price formula can help investors to plan big

A proper price formula can help investors to plan big

1d | TBS Round Table
Rumors about Sarika that everyone thinks are true

Rumors about Sarika that everyone thinks are true

22h | TBS Entertainment
Mugging rife in Tejgaon, murder in Wari

Mugging rife in Tejgaon, murder in Wari

1d | TBS Current Affairs
What secrets are hidden behind Adani's wealth?

What secrets are hidden behind Adani's wealth?

23h | TBS Stories

Most Read

1
Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!
Bangladesh

Bapex calls candidates for job test 9 years after advert!

2
Leepu realised his love for cars from a young age and for the last 40 years, he has transformed, designed and customised hundreds of cars. Photo: Collected
Panorama

'I am not crazy about cars anymore': Nizamuddin Awlia Leepu

3
Photo: Collected
Energy

8 Ctg power plants out of production

4
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
Economy

IMF approves $4.7 billion loan for Bangladesh, calls for ambitious reforms

5
Photo: Collected
Court

Japanese mother gets guardianship of daughters, free to leave country

6
Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane
Infrastructure

Fund cut as Dhaka's fast-track transit projects on slow spending lane

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]