Kerala govt hospital deploys robot to serve COVID-19 patients

Kochi, Apr 25 () A government hospital in Ernakulamhere has deployed a robot to serve food and medicines tocoronavirus patients with an aim to reduce risk of infectionsfor doctors and health workers.

Malayalam star Mohanlal's Viswasanthi Foundation donatedthe autonomous robot to the COVID-19 ward of the Ernakulamgovernment medical college hospital.

The robot named 'KARMI-Bot' will be used to assistpatients at the medical college's COVID-19 isolation ward fromSaturday onwards,the Ernakulam district public relationsdepartment said in a release.

The robot is developed by ASIMOV robotics, a companyworking under maker village of Kerala start-up mission.

"Dispensing food, medicine, collecting the trash usedby the patients, performing disinfection, enable video callbetween the doctor and patients etc are the mainresponsibilities of the robot", the release said.

The purpose of this project is to limit the interactionbetween COVID-19 patients and health workers as well as toaddress the shortage of PPE kits by minimizing its use, itsaid.

Once configured, the robot will be able to perform itsduties fully autonomously.

Carrying a payload of up to 25 kgs, the robot is capableof achieving a maximum speed of 1m per sec.

UV based disinfection and targeted detergent spray arethe additional capabilities of KARMI-Bot, which featured inthe latest cover story of Forbes magazine.

ASIMOV Robotics aims to incorporate contactless routinetemperature checking and automated charger docking to KARMI-Bot, once the spare parts are available after lock down.

The robot was handed over to District Collector S Suhasby the directors of Viswasanthi foundation Major Ravi and VinuKrishnan along with Jayakrishnan, CEO of ASIMOV robotics in afunction at Start-Up Village. TGBROH ROH