Adding yet another innovation, the Indian Railways has launched robotic 'Captain Arjun' to fight the spread of COVID-19.
It has started functioning on the Central Railway.
The Railway Protection Force, Pune launched Captain Arjun to screen passengers while they board trains and keep a watch on anti-social elements.
Captain Arjun is equipped with a motion sensor, one PTZ camera (Pan, Tilt, Zoom Camera) and one Dome Camera. The Cameras use Artificial Intelligence algorithms to track suspicious activity and antisocial activity, have an inbuilt siren, motion activated spotlight H-264 Processor, there is also an in-built internal storage for recording in case there is a network failure. Captain Arjun does thermal screening and records the temperature in a digital display panel with a response time of 0.5 seconds and if temperature is higher than reference range, it sounds an abnormal automatic alarm with a counting capacity of 999.
Captain Arjun has adopted a two-way communication mode, voice and video and also speaks in local language. It is housed with speakers to spread awareness messages on COVID-19. Captain Arjun also has a sensor-based sanitizer and mask dispenser and can move. The robot has a floor sanitisation facility with good battery backup. It has rugged wheels which support all kinds of surfaces.
The brainchild behind this innovation of Captain Arjun, Alok Bohra DIG/RPF, Central Railway said "The high infection rates among multiple segments of people across the world have hampered efforts to tackle COVID-19 pandemic that prompted us to consider robotic screening. Captain ARJUN can be deployed for multiple uses and it is an effective element in station access control and will augment the station security plan".
The success of this Artificial Intelligence enabled Robotic Captain Arjun will give enough protective cover to the passengers while undergoing the screening with no manual encounters at the same time its surveillance feature will prove to be a great deterrent to any unusual occurrences and will ensure security in the railway premises.
Captain Arjun was launched online by Arun Kumar, Director General, RPF, Railway Board in the presence of Sanjeev Mittal, General Manager, Central Railway, Atul Pathak, Principal Chief Security Commissioner, Renu Sharma, Divisional Railway Manager, Pune, Alok Bohra, Chief Security Commissioner and Shri Arun Tripathi, Divisional Security Commandant, Pune Division.