This drone by Jadavpur University researchers can detect a COVID cough when it hears one

The device, when demonstrated to doctors from ICMR Kolkata and those who are treating COVID-19 patients, received a very positive response, said Dr Venkateswaran
The drone the students had developed (Pic: Sourced)
The drone the students had developed (Pic: Sourced)

As the number of COVID affected people keeps rising in the country, these students from Kolkata's Jadavpur University have developed a drone that can scan and single out a person who might have the disease just by listening to how they cough. The drone, that was developed as a part of an earlier project was fine-tuned to help during this crisis. The students, Annesya Banerjee and Achal Nilhani of the Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, developed the device under the guidance of Dr P Venkateswaran and are now in working with the West Bengal Government's Health Department to make the drone operational as soon as possible.

The drone has the ability to capture and scan sounds and then match them with pre-stored clips. "The properties of the sound of a COVID cough is different from the other types of coughs. We might not be able to understand it but the drone will pick up those intricate details," said Annesya Bannerjee. The device, the students said, can be used as a first-level screening system to identify the COVID-19 carrier with the available data. The non-contact device will work even if the person is away from the device and can even identify multiple coughing persons at the same time. It can be used in quarantine centres, office spaces, classrooms or built-up areas with gatherings for monitoring the people present there.

The device, when demonstrated to doctors, received a very positive response, said Dr Venkateswaran. "Doctors from ICMR Kolkata and those who are treating COVID-19 patients have appreciated our efforts and have loved what the device can do. We already have a prototype and it will soon go for real-time clinical testing with COVID-19 patients," he added.

But the device was not developed after the COVID-19 crisis struck India. "We had received a grant of $15,000 from a US NGO, WeRobotics, to build the drone after we presented our idea for a search and rescue drone. The idea was to track people with their voice. This can be used for various other purposes as well," said Annesya. "We got the grant in October 2019 and worked on it for more than four months till we presented the paper in Nairobi in front of an international jury in February and won the second prize in the contest," she added. Once the Coronavirus hit India, the students decided to take this a step further and put their creation to use at this time of crisis.

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