Technology to combat exclusion, another aspect of the Mobile World Congress

In addition to anticipating what the future will bring us, the Mobile World Congress (MWC), which concluded this Thursday, exhibited various solutions that seek to improve the lives of people whom technology has tended to forget, whether they are elderly people or inhabitants of areas depopulated, for example.

An intelligent wheelchair, advances in telemedicine and against financial exclusion are some of the innovations that could be seen these days in Barcelona at the world’s largest technology fair.

Fujitsu’s bet and its E5G

The Japanese firm Fujitsu wants to give rise to “a new hyperconnected world” through its private 5G technology network, with speeds of up to 20 Gbps, latencies of milliseconds or coverage of thousands of devices safely. This has several implications, two of them intended to help overcome difficulties with technology.

This is the case of an innovative telemedicine service, with which a doctor can see a patient from miles away, something that can be useful, for example, in remote areas. It is not a superficial review, but 5G makes it possible to take blood pressure and temperature or weigh yourself on the scale and that the results arrive instantly, to the doctor.

Fujitsu also devised a help desk when ATMs don’t respond to our requests. Instead of desperately calling a phone (probably a paid phone and answered by a robot), a remote service solution, baptized as DIVA, offers to make a kind of advanced video call with which the operator will be able to see exactly what the problem is and describe the user the steps to follow.

Technology to help the elderly

The Chinese Xiaomi has manufactured an experimental robot dog that, among other functions, can be used to accompany the elderly or people with disabilities.

More than a thousand units of this animal without meat or bones have already been sold, which, however, is capable of shaking its paw, jumping -although not climbing stairs- or recognizing a person and following them avoiding visual obstacles.

Still in its initial phase, this robot dog can be controlled by cell phone or with voice commands, it supports a weight of up to 3 kilos and thanks to its six cameras and eleven sensors it can memorize spaces and develop maps.

The Korean Digico KT is also developing a wheelchair with a certain autonomy: capable of avoiding obstacles -just like the well-known small robots that clean floors do-, with a button for emergency calls and the possibility of being driven remotely. In addition, being electric allows it to be moved more easily.

Smart urinals from Barcelona startup Kamleon also serve the elderly, especially those with some form of dementia. The Hospital del Mar in Barcelona has already started a pilot with this product, which calculates the person’s hydration level through urine. Cognitive impairment, they explain from the company, can make you lose the perception of thirst.

Connectivity throughout the territory

A pilot test of the Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital) and the Spanish company Hispasat wants to provide broadband satellite connectivity and Internet of Things (IoT) to the Pyrenean region of Val d’Aran, on the border between Spain and France.

The initiative aims to guarantee broadband connectivity in high mountain areas, so that, once its effectiveness has been validated, it can be extrapolated.

Better connectivity will improve emergency management and help prevent natural hazards, control tourism and monitor livestock and wildlife, among other use cases.