Robots in Tunisia and drones in Kuwait ... How did the Arabs use technology to counter Corona?

Al Jazeera Net

In the past two months, we have seen many videos that explain how the Chinese technically dealt with the Corona pandemic, and it is not strange that we see technologies such as robots and drones roaming Chinese cities, and the Chinese people are among the most integrated with modern technologies.

Although our Arab countries are not comparable to China in its technical development, the Corona pandemic has made the potential of Arabs in the field of technology explode, trying to provide assistance at a time when obstacles and bureaucracy have faded, which has made us witness honorable models for a number of countries in the use of technology.

Distance education and work in Qatar
Life as a whole is moving remotely in Qatar. In a move aimed at preventing the gathering to obtain services in an attempt to control the spread of the Corona virus, all institutions in Qatar have endeavored to provide their services remotely, be it health, education or financial.

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has approved, since March 22, the application of the distance education system at all levels of education, by activating applications that the student can access and watching the explanation of lessons and interaction through this application by doing the homework and obtaining the assessment for each student.

The Ministry has published 336 educational videos in the first week of government school students returning to their studies remotely, as well as preparing a set of guidelines for the distance education mechanism for both the student, guardian and teacher, in addition to launching two educational channels that broadcast these videos around the clock.

The Government of Qatar has also entered into a partnership with Microsoft to implement and adopt modern workplace solutions such as the Microsoft Teams platform, where this step paved the way for enabling the workforce in the country to work remotely in a way that improves its productivity and contributes to enhancing communication and cooperation. Between government agencies, thus ensuring the best services are provided to companies and citizens without interruption.

The Microsoft Times program is one of the most powerful tools that bring together the workforce through one platform of interaction and enhance cooperation frameworks and to keep in touch and make audio and video communications with high quality, in light of the tendency of governments, institutions and companies all over the world to adopt a remote work model that would Promote a cooperative work culture approach among individuals.

The "robot policeman" is a Tunisian industry
In a unique experiment in the Arab world, the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior used a “robot” in the form of a small armored vehicle equipped with surveillance cameras and a thermal camera, controlled remotely, and equipped with a “GPS” system patrolling the streets of Tunisia to monitor the application of quarantine procedures .

The Ministry of the Interior published on its Facebook page a video of the public explaining the way the "robot policeman" works by carrying out his monitoring mission and interrogating citizens in the street, to find out the extent of their respect for the curfews, and the video received a great interaction.

The robot is a 100% domestic industry, by Tunisian engineer Anis El Sahbani, who founded the "Innova Robotics" company specialized in industrial intelligence and robotic mechanisms after a successful experiment in France, where he was previously assigned the task of manufacturing mobile robots to guard French nuclear facilities.

Drones in Kuwait
In the context of the many precautionary measures and measures taken by the Kuwaiti authorities to prevent the spread of the Corona virus in the country, the Ministry of Interior has used the technology of drones to urge citizens and residents to break up the gatherings.

The Ministry of Interior accounts on various social media sites, and the official Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) published videos and clips showing the use of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior elements of the drones, and it urges people to avoid gatherings for the safety of citizens and residents and to reduce the spread of the Corona virus.

The videos in circulation showed the Ministry of Interior personnel and officers speaking via loudspeakers loaded on board these remote aircraft of Arab and foreign communities in Kuwait in several languages, including Arabic, English, Filipino, Indian, and others.

And called the Ministry of Interior through the use of Drones to prevent gatherings and adhere to all the various health and security instructions issued by the relevant competent authorities with the aim of maintaining public safety so as to enable the country to contain the Corona virus.

Stay home "mortar" to deliver things
A week after the curfew in Jordan, last Saturday morning, the government launched the "Mona" electronic platform, which is a guide for companies and licensed applications that provide goods delivery services to homes at the governorate level.

The electronic platform, Mona, includes two main categories, which are smart applications and electronic stores, which can carry out electronic ordering operations through or through communication, and provide home delivery services, according to the statement of the Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship Muthanna Gharaibeh.

Al-Gharaibeh told Al-Jazeera Net that this platform would facilitate the consumer's livelihoods by delivering any goods or merchandise that he needs to his door without needing to go out, by providing the names of groceries and supply stores available in various governorates of the Kingdom, which can deliver goods to the nearby areas within the neighborhoods .

"Seas" application for fishermen
The Sultanate of Oman has intensified its use of modern technologies to tackle the Corona pandemic, and the Oman Technology Fund announced the allocation of one million Omani riyals - (Omani riyal is equivalent to 2.6 US dollars) - to invest and expand in several technical projects that help citizens and residents in facing the difficulties resulting from the application of the policy of social divergence and non-mixing To reduce the spread of the Corona virus.

One of the most important commercial sites that have been successfully launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in cooperation with the Omani Fund for Technology "Bahar" is an electronic platform for bidding on fish remotely in the central wholesale market of fish and is intended for traders and companies

The platform also serves the fish sector from internal and external organization and marketing, linking to other wholesale markets and retail markets in the platform and cooperating with other applications to provide fish delivery service to the final consumer, whether retail or wholesale.

The developers, who are Omani youth, hope to succeed in developing the electronic link chain between fishermen and carriers, as well as fish farming farms, shops for sale, companies and women's home products, as well as import and export offices and fish marketing internationally.