NANJING, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- A smart robot that uses 5G technology and thermal imaging has been employed in the city of Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, to help control the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The mobile robot, equipped with functions like face recognition and temperature measurement, can simultaneously track 32 targets while patrolling, according to its developer.

Integrated by technologies including 5G, cloud computing and intelligent vision, the robot is jointly launched by the Suzhou Innovation Research Institute of Nanjing University, China Telecom Suzhou and Smart Origin Robotics (Suzhou) Co.

"Besides measuring temperature, the robot can tell whether a person is wearing a face mask during the epidemic. And if not, it will give a verbal warning," said Chen Jie, a researcher with the institute.

According to Xue Hua, founder of Smart Origin, the robot can be deployed in crowded places such as administrative service lobbies and public transportation areas to aid epidemic prevention and control.  ■