ITI Cuttack develops low cost robots to combat COVID-19

Bhubaneswar, Apr 29 () Joining the fight againstCovid-19, the government-run Industrial Training Institute(ITI) in Cuttack has developed two low cost robots, which cansave health workers from the infectious virus and reduce theneed for personal protective equipment.

The cost of each robot is expected to be around Rs 2.5lakh, ITI-Cuttack principal Hrushikesh Mohanty said.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the institutehad constituted an innovation team that developed the robotsin its laboratory, in association with SAK Robotics Lab, astart-up, Mohanty told .

One of the two robots is a service robot, named CO-BOT(Corona Combat Robot), which can move on wheels and has ahumanoid structure. Its hand-like structures can hold a trayand carry a load upto 20 kg, the principal said.

It can be used in COVID-19 hospitals for carryingfood, water and medicines to and from patients. "This willreduce the risks to attendants serving the COVID-19 patients,"he said.

The wireless communication protocols being used tocontrol the robot can be further programmed with navigationand mapping to make them work autonomously in a hospital ward,Mohanty said.

The second one, named NIGA-BOT, is a telepresencerobot which can be used for surveillance and teleconsultationby doctors who can interact remotely with patients throughlive video streaming. This robot is also enabled with awheeled mobile platform and has an interactive device forvideo calling.

NIGA-BOT can be used by health workers who have tomake several rounds to the patients bed for monitoring theirhealth.

"This will protect the doctors and nurses fromcontracting the virus during such interactions.

"All these innovations would lead to reduced need formore Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and could be asaviour for health workers," he said.

These are low cost robots developed by the instituteto meet the emergent needs following the coronavirus outbreak,Mohanty said.

Once medical professionals spell out their specificrequirements, new features will be integrated to the robots,he said.

The office of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has alsohailed the job done by ITI, Cuttack in collaboraton with SAKRobotics for using their skill to strengthen Odishas fightagainst COVID-19.

Founder and CEO of SAK Robotics Lab, SakyasinghaMohapatra said, the start-up has provided the requiredtechnology in the joint venture to strengthen the battleagainst the deadly virus.

"The institute has a dream and desire to use industryautomation to impact the lives of ordinary people," the ITIprincipal said. SKNMM MM