FreMEn contra COVID

We are a team of scientists from the Czech Technical University in Prague conducting research in a rather new branch of science called chronorobotics. We have developed a technology that has substantial potential to help the citizens of the Czech Republic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through strictly anonymous data collection, we are creating a useful map of crowdedness and busyness of various places in the Czech Republic. Anyone can co-operate with us, become a FreMEn Explorer, and contribute to mitigating the spreading of the pandemic. The data on the busyness of various places in time are available to everyone on the website kdynakoupit.cz, which is capable of advising the users on the best times to go shopping, or visiting other public places, so that they come into contact with as few people as possible.

PREVENT High Concentration of People in a Single Area

The most effective method against the spreading of the virus is regulating crowdedness and contact among large numbers of people in a single area. Our project is designed to do exactly that.

Hygiene 4.0

With our project, we express our belief in a concept which could be called “Hygiene 4.0”. The concept is based on the assumption that epidemics spread quickly in today's globalized society, and that we cannot deal with them by using outdated methods, such as cordoning off of affected regions (total quarantine) or strict lockdowns. We tackle the problem in an innovative way and with respect to the privacy of our users. That is why the data for our crowdedness-predicting website kdynakoupit.cz comes from manual collection of anonymous data gathered through the FreMEn Explorer app. It is not an ideal method, especially not in terms of amount of data gathered, but according to our criteria, it has the least negatives.

We believe it should not pose a problem for our users to input in just three taps, how many people are standing in a queue in a shop, or how many people are there in the shop in total. Similarly to how you emphasize hygiene by washing your hands thoroughly during a pandemic, you can emphasize Hygiene 4.0 by sending up-to-date data on crowdedness and using the recommendations provided by the website kdynakoupit.cz, and thus lower the potential risk of infection for you and others. Moreover, the frequency of data does not play a very important role under normal conditions, since the dynamics of social behaviour derives from local customs and practices, which we project into our model.

No Snooping

Unlike other population control projects, we put strict emphasis on the anonymity of all data. We categorically reject tools that monitor and deanonymize individuals – tools that seem like they were taken out of the realm of dark visions of our potential future. We believe that similar steps may lead to the stigmatization and hounding of citizens.

FreMEn

Our method is built on the basis of an artificial intelligence named FreMEn = Frequency Map Enhancement, which is used, for example, in long-term deployments of robots in environments which change under the influence of human action. The goal of using this artificial intelligence is to ensure an inclusion of robots into human inhabited areas ( such as offices, hospitals, etc.) that is as non-invasive as possible. This method can be applied even beyond the domain of robotics. FreMEn is able to learn, understand, and evaluate, in which hours and at which places there is a heightened number of people in a single area, i.e. of potential spreaders of the virus. Through the website kdynakoupit.cz, it will inform the public on which areas to avoid at which times and which areas are risk-free.

A Network of Responsibility – FreMEn Explorer

In order for our project to successfully commence and gain universal usability, we need a large number of volunteers who will be willing to supply data about the numbers of people in certain areas at particular times. This is the only way in which we can supply FreMEn with sufficient information to create a continuous time-space map which will, as we believe, be useful to all of us. Help us create a Network of Responsibility. Join us! Become our FreMEn Explorers. By doing so, you can not only prevent the spreading of a dangerous epidemic, but also participate in the development of a modern technology unbound by the influence of corporations and private capital, and created under the patronage of scientists based at a leading research institution with a number of international partners. Everyone can ultimately profit out of this newly-created network of responsibility - by using the website kdynakoupit.cz

Quarantine!

We will be very happy if you decide to co-operate with us. However, we have to add that we are not expecting anyone to go out hectically gathering data and thus go against the intention of the anti-epidemic regulations declared by the government. Gathering and sending data is appropriate only in spaces which we all necessarily need to visit in order to ensure our survival in this extraordinary situation.

Contact

Richard Juan Rozkovec: richard.juan.rozkovec@aic.fel.cvut.cz