The #digitaliseverywhere learning unit offers teachers modular teaching materials covering approximately four lessons. The materials include educational films and accompanying assignments, including solutions and teacher comments, to convey the topic of ‘digitalisation’ in a clear and practical way.
In an educational film of their choice, pupils accompany the protagonist Elena – a young learner – on a journey of discovery through everyday digital life: to Swiss Post's innovation lab, a hospital's radiology department, a “smart” city or the farm of the future.
What is the fastest way to transport something from A to B? Swiss Post's innovation lab has two solutions for Elena.
At Zurich University Hospital, Elena learns about a computer programme that can detect breast cancer just as well as radiologists.
In search of a solution to overflowing rubbish bins, Elena discovers the exciting possibilities of a connected city in the ‘smart city’ of St. Gallen.
Drones for pest control and fitness bands for cows – at the Agroscope research centre, Elena takes a look behind the technological scenes of Swiss agriculture.
Lost a game because of your internet connection? Behind the scenes of the internet, Elena discovers what it takes to have a fast and stable internet connection.
Using four work assignments (A-D), the pupils immerse themselves in the chosen environment, engage in-depth with the content of the educational films and develop their own questions and ideas about the digital technologies shown.
Digital professionals are here to answer your pupils' questions on an ongoing basis.
It is important to be well informed about the world of work and to make use of the relevant advisory services. A tip from Marc Marthaler, Head of Training at Swisscom. "Do what you enjoy doing and what you are good at. And be prepared to continue learning in the future.
It is human nature to be curious, to tinker and to solve problems, big and small. New technologies simplify life in many ways, for example for farmers, who can fertilise more precisely and thus save fertiliser. However, not everyone in the world is equally well off, so we need to find new ways to feed the world's population in the future. One example is smart farming, which leads to higher crop yields without depleting the soil.
New technologies have the potential to protect the environment. However, they also carry the risk of encouraging people to drive even more, for example, because autonomous vehicles make it so easy. But these technologies also offer new opportunities: car sharing, reducing travel, and using fewer pesticides by only fertilising where it is really necessary.
No, that's not enough. However, professions will undergo fundamental changes. Some professions will disappear, while new ones will emerge. Professions that involve simple, repetitive or supervisory tasks will certainly disappear sooner or later. Today, robots are already building cars, and artificial intelligence is being used to decide on loan applications or assist in diagnostics. Professions that involve more complex or creative processes and contact with people will certainly continue to exist in the future, as they cannot be replaced by robots so quickly.
No, probably not everywhere. Autonomous vehicles are currently well suited to places where traffic is very structured, such as motorways. But in city centres, there are many unforeseen circumstances. People signal, motorists wave others through, or a cyclist suddenly comes around the corner. This is still very difficult for the systems to handle.
Yes. But there are two sides to it. Greater efficiency can be stressful because you feel the need to do more and more in less time. But when everything is done more efficiently and quickly, you also have more free time that you can spend on yourself, your family and your friends.
It wouldn't do much good. Don't forget: we always know exactly where the robot is.
No, no robot has ever been stolen to date.
The drone can only fly in certain wind and precipitation conditions. This means that if there is a severe storm, the drone will not fly and we will use a traditional transport method (e.g. bicycle courier or taxi).
The robot has all six wheels driven, which means it can also move easily through snow. As long as the snow is not deeper than the robot is tall, it has no problems. The robot is being developed in Estonia, where winter weather conditions are even harsher than in Switzerland.
Before the robot is deployed, we create a 3D model of the environment in which it will be operating. Using image recognition and GPS, the robot can then find its way around this map. This makes it very unlikely that it will get lost. The situation is similar with drones.
Yes, our drones are permitted and able to fly at night. It is even easier at night, as there is much less air traffic.
No, we haven't had any incidents with the drone so far.
The drone has several safety mechanisms to ensure that this does not happen. The battery is constantly monitored during flight. If it reaches a critical low level, the drone lands at the nearest designated safety landing site on the route.
They are replaced. The faulty robot is then returned to the manufacturer for troubleshooting and repair.
The robot would be damaged... However, the other vehicle should not suffer any damage. The robots are designed in such a way that they cause no or very little damage in the event of an accident with another vehicle.
We will still see postmen in 10 years' time. Postmen have many advantages over robots or drones. For example, they can climb the stairs to the front door and respond to customers' individual needs.
The Post Office will still exist in 20 years. However, it will probably change somewhat. At the moment, though, it is very difficult to predict where the journey will take us.
The drones are manufactured in California, USA.
Development is very time-consuming. The manufacturer Starship took around five years to develop the current version and is still continuing to develop it further.
The mechanical parts are made of metal, and the casing is made of plastic.
The drone flies at speeds of up to 72 km/h.
Theoretically, the drone could travel 300 km. However, the battery cannot be used for 6 hours straight. With the current drone, we have a range of 20 km, which is sufficient for most situations.
That depends greatly on the area of application. There is no generally applicable amount.
As both the robots and the drones are currently still in the development phase, there are no prices available yet. It is important to note that you will not have to buy the drone or delivery robot. It will be used in a similar way to a delivery van. This means that the price of the device will not be relevant for recipients of postal items.
There are many areas of activity: software development, mechanical engineering, vehicle design, aviation and much more.
We will certainly not be carrying out drone transport throughout Switzerland in the near future. There are three reasons for this: regulatory constraints currently prevent the establishment of a nationwide network; from a technical perspective, operating such a network would still be too costly; and, lastly, drones are not suitable for every type of transport.
We currently have six drones in operation. All tests on the delivery robots are currently being evaluated. Therefore, none are actively in use.
Theoretically, any IT system can be hacked, including drones and robots. However, we have a number of security mechanisms in place to prevent this. With drones, for example, the current location is always compared with a target location. If the drone deviates too far from this (known as ‘geo-fencing’), it initiates an emergency landing.
The robot communicates with customers via an app. Recognition works in reverse: customers ensure that they are standing in front of the right robot. They do this by entering a code on the app, and the robot opens. This always happens at ground floor level, as the robot cannot climb stairs.
The drones have already carried out more than 2,000 deliveries and are in productive use every day. The robots have already travelled more than 3,000 kilometres in Switzerland. The robot manufacturer, Starship, has already covered more than 10 million kilometres with its robots.
It depends on how far into the future we are talking about. It is highly unlikely that this will be the case in the next 5–10 years.
Our artificial intelligence device can only analyse mammograms, i.e. X-ray images of the female breast. However, there are similar programmes from other researchers that deal with other diseases. For example, Stanford University in the USA recently presented a programme that uses photos to try to distinguish harmless skin spots from skin cancer. Other researchers are attempting to use artificial intelligence to detect circulatory diseases by analysing images of the back of the eye.
Most programmes focus on diagnosis, i.e. identifying the disease. The earlier a disease is detected, the better the chances of recovery. It is very likely that artificial intelligence will enable us to find better therapies and cure more diseases than ever before. But will we be able to cure all diseases? Perhaps in the distant future.
The different recyclable materials (e.g. green glass, white glass, aluminium, etc.) must not be mixed. That is why each vehicle only collects a specific type of recyclable material. The same vehicle cannot empty all the containers at the same time.
Emptying the bins causes quite a lot of noise and would disturb residents too much at night. In addition, the city's vehicles are also subject to the night-time driving ban. However, care is taken to ensure that the bins are not emptied during the morning or evening rush hour.
There are several cities that will use similar smart technologies or are already doing so, e.g. Zurich or Winterthur.
Autonomous vehicles will be driving around in many cities and transport concepts will be different – meaning there will be less congestion and fewer delays. However, the changes will not be that fundamental. Zurich, for example, still looks the same in the city centre as it did 150 years ago. However, there will certainly be new services that make life easier, e.g. autonomous shared taxis that can be ordered on demand, an automatic selection of restaurants based on my preferences, including food ordering, or even more and more specific delivery services for all kinds of products. A smart city will certainly also make better use of roofs and open spaces – e.g. for growing vegetables.
Digital technologies help farmers to simplify and improve various processes. For example, farmers can use their smartphones to collect data in the field and do not have to transfer it from paper to the computer in the evening, thus avoiding doing the same work twice. The new technologies also help to protect the environment and reduce the need for fertilisers and pesticides.
Cows produce up to 10,000 litres of milk in 300 days. To do this, approximately 500 litres of blood flow through the udder per litre of milk. This requires a very high level of metabolic performance, similar to the peak physical performance of top athletes.
Agriculture wants to reduce costs, protect the environment, simplify processes and also provide consumers with better information about food production. Digital technologies are not essential for this, but they can help to achieve these goals.
The technologies are manufactured by agricultural engineering companies around the world. Most of the technologies used in Switzerland come from German, French, Austrian and Italian companies.