London Marathon Robotic Tech

London Marathon participants protected by a disc-shaped wearable tech device dubbed as 'Fitbit for safety'.

07:36 05 October 2020

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 London Marathon was still held last weekend (October 4) - thanks to one British tech company's device. 

 

The iconic event was participated by 100 elite runners who ran the marathon in the 'secure biosphere environment' of a closed-loop circuit around St James's Park. Meanwhile, more than 45,000 people completed their 26.2 mile "virtually" running on their usual practice routes. 

 

The Marathon organisers took every measure to ensure that participating athletes were protected from Covid-19. They partnered with Tharsus, a British robotics firm and the maker of the Bump, a small disc-shaped wearable social distancing tech device. 

 

Described as "Fitbit for safety", Bump uses Radio Frequency (RF) technology to create a Personal Motion System that alerts wearers when they are getting too close to another person. 

 

Company CEO Brian Palmer said: “Our system is completely scalable… It can respond in minutes with a very precise track-and-trace. Everyone will be able to see who they have interacted with within the last two weeks,” said Palmer. “We’ve been in discussions with the Marathon team since March.

 

“It’s fantastic to be taking on such a high profile event. It is the first marathon taking place since March, and it’s a big event for the world of running, and for sport generally, to show that you can run an event like this in a responsible manner.”

 

Marathon event director, Hugh Brasher, said: “The Bump technology has played an important role, giving our athletes and internal teams extra confidence to engage with the event safely,"