Connected avatar for children with long-term illnesses

U-blox has announced that it has donated 500 4G modules to Norwegian company, No Isolation, as part of an ongoing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. No Isolation is a connected healthcare start-up, pioneering an avatar for children with long-term illnesses who have to stay in hospital or at home over an extended period of time. Their robotic avatar, AV1, represents the child during school classes, field trips or birthday parties, enabling them to participate in everyday events where their medical condition means that they can’t be physically present. The company’s TOBY-L200 4G modules enable the AV1 to transmit audio and video from anywhere so that as long as there is 4G coverage, the child’s parents, teachers and friends won’t need to think about connecting AV1 to Wi-Fi. The avatar’s 4G connection is automatic and entirely within the child’s control. Equipped with a camera, a microphone and speakers, the avatar streams live video to the child’s phone or tablet, allowing them to see and hear the avatar’s surroundings in real-time, as well as talk with an ordinary voice and decide what direction the robot is looking. Commenting on the initiative, U-blox, CEO, Thomas Seiler, said: “We believe that No Isolation’s award-winning avatar can address the isolation that many sick children experience during a prolonged stay in hospital or at home. It is a privilege to support such a young and passionate entrepreneurial team in a way that is entirely in line with our existing CSR goals. Corporate Social Responsibility is an integral part of our company culture and this initiative fully demonstrates the power of u-blox’s wireless technology to solve a long-term children’s health issue, as well as epitomizing our vision of an Internet of Things that Really Matter.” Karen Dolva, No Isolation, CEO, said: “AV1 gives children the ability to participate in all the everyday events that allows a child to feel included. Together with u-blox, we are using cellular/LTE technology to bridge a gap in today’s healthcare systems and help tackle the loneliness and social isolation that children experience during long periods of illness.” Marius Aabel, CTO, No Isolation, added: "AV1 would not work without a 4G mobile connection. The robot needs to work in the classroom, in birthday parties and out on field trips, without having to go through the hassle of WiFi configuration and the worries of no network coverage." TOBY-L200 is a Category 4 LTE module, providing data throughput of up to 150Mb/s on the downlink and 50 Mb/s on the uplink. Its high data speeds make it ideally suited for video applications such as streaming and conferencing. Supporting multi-band LTE-FDD, along with DC-HSPA+, GPRS/ EDGE, and circuit-switched voice fallback, assuring connectivity even in areas where 4G may not be available.