For Ubudu, a start-up specialized in geolocation and tracking, and propose a solution designed to facilitate compliance with the social distancing seemed a no-brainer. “From the beginning of April, some of our customers were already the déconfinement. They wanted an effective system, that would allow their employees to move around in a dynamic manner, while remaining in prevention,” explains François Kruta, the CEO of the start-up.

Very quickly, the engineers of Ubudu have dismissed the idea of a mobile app that would work via Bluetooth (as is the case for StopCovid), to concentrate on a technology they know well: the ultra wideband. With this technique radio modulation based on the transmission of pulses of very short duration, it is possible to geo-tag objects with an accuracy of 10 cm.

In just a few weeks, the company teams have developed a small case designed to be fitted to all the employees of the companies who feel the need. When two employees do not comply with the safety distances (which may be fixed in advance, often over a metre), the box vibrates and a red LED is active. “We didn’t want the alert to be hearing. In some sectors where employees are evolving in a noisy environment, the vibration is much more convenient”, says François Kruta.

800 000 boxes required

The device also proposes to count the number of daily alerts, in order to verify to what extent the guidelines are being met within the company. But the CEO is to assure the anonymity is fully respected, since no data is stored. Ubudu recognizes that its boxes can also be used to analyze a chain of contamination, by determining with which other enclosures, a sick employee has been in contact with, but says that this option has very little success in France.

Since the first deliveries as early as the week of the 11th of may, orders have increased. “We were very surprised by the success of the offer. 800 000 boxes would be needed to satisfy all requests. Today we focus all our energy on it,” enthused the manager. The CONSTRUCTION, industry, logistic centres for persons in situation of disability… In total, there are already nearly 400 structures that have expressed their interest for the case of Ubudu. Among these, we found some great names, such as the Vinci group or Schneider Electric.

many competitors

Ubudu must, however, face competition increasingly fierce. The company Invoxia, which offers GPS trackers that can find bicycles or companion animals, was also launched on the market. No thicker than a USB key, the Spacing Companion provides functionality similar to the case of Ubudu, even if it uses, for its part, the transmission protocols Bluetooth and Lora. According to the director-general of Invoxia Amélie Caudron, interviewed by 20 minutes, it is currently being tested in “a big player in the CAC40”, as well as at Dimotrans, one of the leaders of the French distribution.

The Spacing Companion Invoxia

In the same way, Insight SiP, French designer and manufacturer of electronic components ultraminiaturisés, has developed Security Bubble Covid-19, an electronic device analogous. According to CEO Michel Beghin, thousands of units are currently in production and should equip soon dozens of companies across Europe and Asia.