If ‘Mitra’ looks familiar, this is because the robot already made headlines once when it interacted with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event in 2017.
Now, it’s patrolling the halls of Yatharth Super Speciality Hospital in Noida Extension.
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It has a tablet attached to its chest that allows hospitalised patients to see their loved ones.
Mitra also facilitates interaction with medical staff that may not be able to access the wards — like a psychologist or a dietician.
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Developed by Bengaluru-based start-up Invento Robotics, each robot costs around ₹1 million ($13,600).
Mitra isn’t alone. In Gujarat’s SMIMER Hospital, robot nurses are helping out serving food, giving out medicine and other knick-knacks that COVID-19 patients may require.
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In Tamil Nadu, the humanoid robot called Zafi Med is also working with coronavirus patients.
Developed by Propeller Technologies, Zafi Med has been deployed at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital in Tiruchirappalli.
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Zafi was originally created in 2019. And Zafi Med has been augmented to specially meet the needs of coronavirus patients in quarantine.