The most significant change brought by the coronavirus pandemic to our lives has been social distancing. It has become an inevitable necessity to pay attention to maintaining a certain distance and the density of people at every point, from socialization places to workplaces, from shopping centers to educational institutions.

While the wheels of production had stopped in the first period of the pandemic, artificial intelligence (AI) technology has become one of the industry's main supporters, also ensuring that quality control and savings in production stand out. Likewise, there has been a rapid transformation in education during the pandemic period. The remote education system was put into practice in the second half of the 2019-2020 academic year. Preparations are now underway for the new period.

Domestic software startups

Domestic software startups will use AI technology to enable cameras to check social distancing. Doruk and Sensormatic conduct density and social distance analyses in different sectors. According to the rules announced by the Turkish Health Ministry, social distancing control is of great importance in workplaces. The regulations are measured tightly during the pandemic period around the world. In the COVID-19 Epidemic Management and Work Guide prepared by the Scientific Advisory Board of the Health Ministry, social distancing control in schools and production places such as factories is of great importance. Therefore, the opening of the schools was delayed for one month.

Minimum 1-meter distance

According to the guide, staff and student planning will be carried out in schools with at least one person per 4 square meters, and the number of people to be taken in will be arranged accordingly. Again, rules for maintaining social distancing for offices and work areas are among the most important rules. Classrooms, study halls, resting areas in offices, dining halls, canteens and similar public use areas should be arranged so that the social distance between people is at least 1 meter. Not only managers but also technology can be used to control this distance.

Checking distance

Though repeated over and over how significant social distancing is, the number of cases increases exponentially without supervision.

While everyone is talking about the second wave, social distancing must be maintained in every field, from education to production, from transportation to tourism. Software companies are now using AI technologies to measure the distance and density between people.

Keep factories open

The Turkish technology company Doruk built the digitalization market in production management in Turkey and worked as a digital transformation mentor for industrialists with the smart production management system ProManage. The company has developed a social distancing measurement and warning system called ProManage KiT (Controlled Human Traffic) in order to continue production while protecting employee health.

Doruk provides industrialists with a free-of-charge ProManage KiT, which enables employees to monitor and report social distance instantly while the factories continue their activities, thus allowing enterprises to take measures immediately by evaluating the risks in terms of employee health.

In this context, it supports the "Keep Factories Open" campaign. During the pandemic period, when most businesses worked remotely for a long time, industrial companies continue their activities in a controlled manner with great devotion. Thanks to the smart production management system ProManage, it enables industrialists to manage their costs and competitiveness by detecting and reducing their losses, making their production more efficient and agile.

Density analysis at school

Turkey this week announced it will reopen schools on Sept. 21 with measures in place to counter the coronavirus. The new school year will commence nationwide on Aug. 31 with classes held remotely.

On the other hand, universities in the country will reopen on Oct. 1. The universities have been given a wide range of options to choose from in order to lower the number of students on campus and reduce their free movement.

Students will return to campuses gradually and in phases. Classrooms will be arranged in accordance with social distancing rules and schools will be provided with disinfectants and masks.

Over 2,000 inspectors have been checking standards of schools ahead of the planned reopening. Schools across the country were closed in mid-March as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Despite the opening delayed for almost a month, supervision in schools will gain great importance. At this point, the solution needed came from the Sensormatic research and development (R&D) team. With the use of three-dimensional cameras and beam sensors within the scope of the "Density Measurement Solution" developed by Sensormatic for the first time in Turkey, the density ratio in the areas is easily determined, and the entrances are restricted if the density increases. The solution also provides visual and auditory information about how many people are inside, how many people can enter and the time to wait for reentry when the ideal density is reached, through the screens positioned at the entry points.

Cost and quality control in production

ProcessEye Studio, which is among the eighth term startups of Turkey’s leading information and communication technologies company Türk Telekom’s startup acceleration program PILOT, accelerates the process in the production sector as a quality control solution with artificial intelligence-based image processing. In other words, while ensuring the operation of the wheels in production, it reduces the cost.

ProcessEye Studio is a software as a service (SaaS) production and quality control solution that enables manufacturing companies to develop artificial intelligence-based image processing systems. With ProcessEye Studio, companies can improve their production processes, improve their quality control processes, and integrate them into their own systems without having any software or coding knowledge to reduce production costs.

Saving and production-oriented solutions

The seventh period of the Workup Entrepreneurship Program, supported by private lender Işbank, starts with 18 new startups that are successful in their respective fields. Startups produce solutions focused on savings and quality control in production.

The Workup Program, which continued online without interruption during the pandemic period, had graduated its sixth-term startups in June. The seventh period of the Workup starts online with 18 new startups, each in different verticals. In the program, artificial intelligence solutions focused on savings and quality control in production stand out. Startups specialize in a certain area, providing both cost savings and quality control. With the transfer of the program to the online environment, startups from different provinces have also been included. In this period of the program, there will be startups from Ankara, Izmir and Bursa as well as Istanbul.

18 startups selected

Thirty-seven startups selected among the applications made to take part in the Workup Entrepreneurship Program made presentations to the participants consisting of Workup mentors and graduates in eight different presentation events held in July. The new term of the program will start on Aug. 5.

A supporter of technology-oriented, early-stage startups with a scalable and sustainable business model, the program has been continuing uninterrupted since 2017 with the main support of Işbank.

Arvia: Software that allows users to easily add voice/video call features to websites and mobile applications.

Bakiyem.com: A startup that offers online payment solutions to companies that want to receive payments from their customers quickly and at low costs.

Bobu: Software that quickly converts books and magazines for children into mobile applications without coding.

Chatterbox: Personalized chatbot software that improves the customer reach experience of brands before and after sales.

Emoty.AI: Artificial intelligence-supported startup that generates insight by making mood analysis.

E-playout: A platform that brings together e-sports players and teams who want to improve themselves with professional/experienced e-sports players and coaches where they can get training.

Evimdekipsikolog: A digital platform that provides expert support that is accessible anywhere, easily and cost-effectively to those who want to seek psychological counseling.

Huma Breath: A breathing exercise application that helps control the body and mind.

Innerjoy: An artificial intelligence-supported personal meditation application prepared with special topics for feelings and situations experienced in daily life.

Inspakt: The platform that enables printed documents such as forms and contracts to be digitalized and safely stored.

Nutzen Tech: A startup that produces unmanned aerial vehicles with the ability to instantly measure, record, display, process, map and classify air pollutant parameters.

Oreka: The marketplace that enables restaurants, patisseries, cafes and markets to deliver their lost food to consumers with a discount rate of 50% or more compared with the list prices.

Pirahas: An integrated management tool for businesses selling on Amazon.

Plastic Move: A startup that produces bioplastic raw materials from stale bread.

Popupsmart: Software that enables simple pop-up campaigns for websites.

Tinc.io: Cloud computing solution that can turn any computer into a powerful gaming computer or workstation.

TRIWI: A wearable technology startup integrated with a mobile application that enables women to control their breast health and track changes.

Tuvis AI: Image processing startup for textile industry-focused fabric defect recognition and process optimization.