Teamwork banishes the office quarantine blues

Positive test

As part of the city's fight against the current COVID-19 outbreak, the Minhang campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong University has been placed in a closed-loop management system since March 9, when a student tested positive for the disease.

Delivering food to the university's 30,000-plus students in quarantine－who are scattered across the 3.33-square-kilometer campus－has been a challenge, but members of the institution's teaching faculty, who volunteered for the task after completing their work online, were not deterred.

Divided into groups, hundreds of teachers have shuttled between the university's canteens and student dormitories over the past week.

To improve efficiency, the teachers have made best use of delivery vehicles and routes based on their expertise, which includes work on algorithms and driverless technology.

One of the volunteers, Yang Ming, secretary of the Party Committee of the University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute, said, "Our only goal is to deliver fresh, hot meals to students as fast as possible."

Every day, after completing deliveries and removing his protective clothing, Yang, a professor of telecommunications, lectures online on the principles of positioning, sensing, planning and decision-making that apply to unmanned vehicles.

Yang said: "On the first day of deliveries we found that due to the huge number of students in quarantine scattered throughout the huge campus most meals were cold by the time they reached them. We decided to develop delivery route optimization software to find the best solution."

Driverless shuttle vehicles developed by Yang's team in 2018 joined the delivery operation, which already comprised teachers' cars, tricycles and also smart logistics vehicles.

Yang and other teachers at the university working on smart vehicle research assembled such a car to maximize the number of meal boxes delivered at any one time.

Wang Jingchuan, deputy director of the university's School of Automation, said expertise in logistics planning and project coordination was also called on to build a transportation optimization model.

Using algorithms, teachers streamlined the placement of meal boxes in vehicle storage compartments. They assessed other factors, such as vehicle capacity, the storage volume of each meal box, and even the impact of speed bumps on delivery times.

Undeterred by the "entry only, no exit" measure implemented on campus, many teachers living outside the university are serving as volunteers at the institution. They bed down each night in sleeping bags placed in offices and conference rooms.

Yang said food deliveries have become more efficient, which has helped encourage the volunteers.

In an online video, Zhang Wenming, professor of mechanics at the university, said, "I act as a professional deliveryman these days, which I take a real pride in."

The teachers' work as volunteers has gained widespread approval from students.

Fang Ruomei, who is studying at the university's School of Foreign Languages, said: "I sense the care shown by teachers every day now, which is easily ignored in this fast-paced life. It gives us the motivation to remain positive."

Li Wei, 23, another graduate student, said the closed-loop management system can be "a pleasing, not upsetting, experience".

"Although we aren't able to buy snacks, study in the library, or wander around the campus, the university is looking after us in every respect, particularly with meals," Li said.

Thanks to the prompt delivery of meals every day, she said she is now living a much healthier life.

"When we have our meals, the teachers might still be rushing between dormitory buildings and their offices. It is not their duty to do so, but they are prioritizing our needs," Li said.

"We shout 'thank you' every time teachers pass our dormitories, and they say 'goodbye for now, keep your spirits up'," she added.

"They are like our friends, even though I don't know the names of them all."

Li Weiyi contributed to this story.