The National Museum of China recently joined with an innovative IoT high-tech company, SENSORO, to launch a smart guide for visitors.

At the exhibition Treasures of Romania, Adrian Lupeanu, cultural counselor of Romania to China, held up for view a matchbox-size smart low energy Bluetooth sensor for use in museums. As a visitor with the sensor approaches a museum exhibit, his or her smart phone or other device displays information about the exhibit. The visitor may even interact with the sensor.

Adrian Lupeanu, cultural counselor of Romania to China, is holding a cloud device from SENSORO. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The sensor can continue working for 1-2 years without recharging and is harmless to cultural relics. Hui Te, head of SENSORO’s National Museum project, said that the sensor-centric IoT, human-centric information services and big- data-centric analysis play important roles in the service and decision-making of a museum. He added that SENSORO not only offers s a smart guide service to the National Museum of China, but also analyzes data to help the museum optimize its procedures.

According to an official of the National Museum, the sensor will continue to serve visitors after the Treasures of Romania exhibition. Using volunteers and the smart auto-guide, Treasures of Romania has built a digital exhibition platform that connects offline and online.

Though the museum’s involvement is still at the preliminary stage, more and more domestic museums are seeking cooperation with innovation technology companies to create smart scenarios. SENSORO reports that cooperation with the Palace Museum to launch a smart visiting guide there is underway as well.