Interview: Pocket Computer as a Tool Against Coronavirus

Dr Dimitrios Tzovaras, the director at CERTH/ITI and Dr Charis Kouzinopoulos, researcher and project manager at CERTH/ITI, gave an interview

in the Athenian/Macedonian News Agency, the Greek National News Agency, on the AMANDA project progress and explained how it is related to the mitigation of the effects of COVID-19.

In a very interesting interview, the partners of the AMANDA project, as well as the objectives were presented. Dr Tzovaras emphasized that AMANDA ASSC is a product, the like of which does not exist in the market. It will be essentially the first system, miniaturised and adaptable Autonomous Smart Sensing Card for multipurpose environmental sensing and asset tracking in smart living and working applications.

Dr Kouzinopoulos explained the concept of the project, stating that the AMANDA ASSC is also an excellent tool for crisis management, including dealing with the effects of the current pandemic:

"For example, there is a limit to how many people there are in a supermarket. What one can do is to easily install such cards in a supermarket, so that they can take pictures through space and "run" the smart algorithm, so that the number of people in the space can be calculated. Therefore, if the limit is exceeded, a warning message will be sent to the store manager."

Another scenario involves the packaging of medicines or the delivery of a vaccine that the world community is anxiously awaiting to treat COVID-19. During the transport of such goods, the card could measure the temperature, humidity, etc., and provide information if all transport measures of the product have been observed correctly.

A third scenario that is still under discussion, however, more technologically developed but also more challenging, concerns contact tracing.

The full article can be found and read at the following link:

https://www.cnn.gr/tech/story/235781/thessaloniki-ypologistis-tsepis-os-ergaleio-kata-toy-koronoioy-deite-pos

https://www.amna.gr/home/article/490921/Ypologistis-tsepis-ginetai-ergaleio-kata-tou-koronoiou