Amid growing concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus among medical professionals, students of KIIT World School Pitampura Nishant Chandna (15) and Saurav Maheshkar (16) and Aditya Dubey from Modern School Barakhama have invented a robot to deal with the crisis.
"Three days ago, out Principal uploaded a video on Facebook about our school's robotics team and one of their inventions that won a national-level prize. She encouraged the students to invent something like that again, which could be of use during the COVI-19 pandemic," says Nishant, explaining why they took up the initiative.
He adds, "So, the three of us came up with the idea of a robot to help healthcare workers and patients. We ensured that we maintained social distancing. It was made at my house. Saurav and Aditya helped with the conceptualisation and coding."
The robot called Prithvi could help reduce contact between healthcare workers and COVID-19 patients. The students conceptualised, designed and built the robot after the Modi government announced a nationwide lockdown in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus.
Nishant Chandna said “A number of medical staff including doctor and nurses in India who were infected while treating patients. We wanted to design something that would help protect those at the frontline battling this illness, so we put our heads together and designed this robot, the robot is designed to dispense food and medicine to patients, and is controlled remotely through an app downloaded on a smartphone."
The robot can also allow a smart tablet to be attached to it, enabling video conferencing between doctors and patients. "We’re also considering adding an additional feature, in the form of a temperature gun. That way patient can check their own temperature, minimizing the risk to doctors and nurses,” Nishant adds.
The prototype of ‘Prithvi’ is made of cardboard, a programmable board and basic motors, and cost less than Rs 5,000 to build. However, if it does get made on a mass scale, it would require a sturdier build. Dubey conceptualized the robot, Chandna built it, and Maheshkar contributed to its software development.
