Quiet Planet

The COVID-19 outbreak and the resulting social distancing recommendations and related restrictions have led to numerous short-term changes in economic and social activity around the world, all of which may have impacts on our environment. Your challenge is to use space-based data to document the local to global environmental changes caused by COVID-19 and the associated societal responses.

Hoover Chatbot

Summary

The Hoover chatbot updates and facilitates the accessibility of the visually impaired in relation to the epicenters of COVID-19 in Brazil from the mapping of atmospheric data. The main objective is to help prevent COVID-19 because of the direct impact on the lives of people who have visual impairments and who, in turn, are vulnerable to the lack of correct and reliable information. This chatbot has the best use of data using the monitoring system of EARTH Data Observation - NASA to compose the pollution data in terrestrial areas and inform the user what is happening in a real time.

How We Addressed This Challenge

The objective is helping, in a simple and effective way, the blind speakers and listeners of the Portuguese language, the category best mission concept is the one that most represents the solution we propose. We believe that Chatbot will provide more security and information for those who are in a vulnerable situation.

The mission involves the challenge of using state-of-the-art technology as a source of updating, prevention and, even, learning about COVID-19 rates and forms of contagion through reports on urban pollution and population density, for example. There are reports that blind people feel insecure about going out on the street, using walking sticks or glasses and whether they are really clean. In this pandemic moment, they are often forgotten and are at greater risk of acquiring the disease.

In this sense, we think about the mission of the United Nations and its seventeen sustainable development objectives, in which objective number ten proposes the reduction of inequalities. In this way, we cannot forget about minority groups, as they are one of those who most need access to quality information, in an accessible and free way in their mother tongue.

How We Developed This Project

Our mission is to solve the problem through agile, secure, free and accessible information in Portuguese language, thus avoiding the contagion of visually impaired people who are also at risk. It is possible to affirm that according to the National Organization of the Blind of Brazil (ONCB), the daily particularities place the blind in vulnerable conditions. In this sense, our intention is to create a “virtual guardian angel” who accompanies and assists the visually impaired at all times when he is connected to the network, thus translating the most recent data from reference organizations such as NASA, the UN and the WHO, for example.

The project was inspired by the release of data from the National Organization for the Blind of Brazil (ONCB). Therefore, our chatbot will be a tool to accompany users and keep them informed, since most of this public reports the difficulties of prevention in relation to the new coronavirus, in addition to the fear of feeling, even more, exposed to the risks of contamination and abandonment in extreme situations.

The information will translated data coming from GPS APIs and pollution rates, the blind user will be able to inform and receive notifications both about Covid-19 and locations with high pollution rates an example a data that can be related to crowds of people. In contrast, it will a way to overcome this for people who needs the tool.

Project Demo

https://youtu.be/ZznSxdVDCmg

Data & Resources

EARTH Data Observation - NASA
https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/discipline/human-dimensions

Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT)
https://terra.nasa.gov/about/terra-instruments/mopitt

http://www9.who.int/entity/gard/publications/The_Global_Impact_of_Respiratory_Disease_POR.pdf

http://www9.who.int/entity/gard/publications/The_Global_Impact_of_Respiratory_Disease_POR.pdf

https://climate.gov/maps-data/primer/what-environmental-data-are-relevant-study-infectious-diseases-covid-19

https://climate.gov/maps-data/primer/what-environmental-data-are-relevant-study-infectious-diseases-covid-19

Tags
#airquality #peopleblind #voicerecognition
Global Judging
This project was submitted for consideration during the Space Apps Global Judging process.