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SINGAPORE: From monitoring vital signs to filtering dirty air and even translating speech into other languages, the coronavirus-fueled boom in the use of masks has spawned an unusual range of high-tech face coverings.
As masks become the norm around the world, technology companies and researchers are implementing weird and wonderful models to guard against infections and take advantage of a growing trend.
One of the most extravagant comes from Japan, where startup Donut Robotics has created a face cover that helps users adhere to social distancing and also acts as a translator.
The “C-Face” mask works by transmitting a user’s speech to a smartphone via an app and allows people to have a conversation while staying up to 10 meters away.
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Taisuke Ono’s startup Donut Robotics has created a mask that helps users adhere to social distancing and also acts as a translator. (Photo: AFP / Philip Fong)
“Despite the coronavirus, sometimes we need to meet directly,” Donut Robotics CEO Taisuke Ono told AFP.
The lightweight silicone device could have immediate benefits for people like doctors who want to communicate with patients remotely, the company says.
It can translate speech from Japanese to English, Korean, and other languages, a feature that will be more useful once travel restrictions are eased.
But it offers no protection against COVID-19 on its own, and is designed to be worn over a regular face cover when it goes on sale in February for about 4,000 yen (US $ 40).
Donut Robotics raised nearly 100 million yen ($ 950,000) through crowdfunding to develop it, a success that Ono believes was driven by a desire for innovations to make life easier during the pandemic.
“It is possible that we can fight the virus with technology, with human wisdom,” he said.
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Devices that provide health data or translation services would be of great benefit to doctors and nurses on the front lines of the battle against coronavirus. (Photo: AFP / Roslan Rahman)
Another mask developed in Singapore aims to protect doctors treating COVID-19 patients.
It has sensors that monitor body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, and blood oxygen levels, and transmit data to a smartphone via a Bluetooth transmitter.
“Many of these front-line workers will be exposed to patients when they take their vital signs,” Loh Xian Jun, one of the scientists behind the invention, told AFP.
“This represents a health risk for nurses and we wanted to think of a way to reduce that risk.”
Its inventors say the device could also monitor the vital signs of migrant workers in crowded dormitories, which incubated massive virus outbreaks in the city-state this year.
They hope to test it in the near future and commercialize it.
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A face mask developed in Singapore can provide protection for medical staff members and could monitor the vital signs of migrant workers in crowded dormitories, where there was a large increase in infections earlier this year. (Photo: AFP / Roslan Rahman)
For those looking to combat the effects of pollution in cities suffocated by smog, South Korea’s LG Electronics has developed an air-purifying mask.
The futuristic white device, which fits comfortably around the user’s mouth, nose and chin, is equipped with two filters on each side and fans to aid airflow.
The filters are similar to those in the company’s home air purifiers and can block 99.95 percent of harmful particles.
Thousands have already been made available to medical staff members and it will be rolled out in stores in the future as well, the company says.
