Thane engineer develops Coro-bot to combat coronavirus challenges

The Coro-bot in use. DH Photo

With the ever-growing challenges of COVID-19, a Thane-based instrumental engineer has developed a robot that can perform multiple tasks.

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Aptly named Coro-bot, it can perform the tasks of ward boys and nurses, who would otherwise have to come in contact with coronavirus patients.

Pratik Tirodkar from Thane, near Mumbai, came up with the idea of developing a robot which would dispense food, water and medicines to coronavirus patients in their wards without the physical presence of nurses and other care-givers. Pratik was inspired by PM Narendra Modi’s Make in India vision and his clarion call for innovation.

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Coro-bot cuts the requirement of physical contact of nurses and ward boys with the patient.
It delivers food, water, medicines to them and can interact with them using a camera. Patients are cautioned through audio reminders to sanitise their hands before they pick up things from trays. The robot has 3 trays which can carry 10-15 kg weight each and storage of 30 kg capacity at the bottom. Hence it can easily carry supplies for 10-15 people at a time.
The sensors in dispensers ensure that liquids or sanitisers flow quickly when we hold our hand below it and flow is cut-off when the hand/glass is removed from underneath the dispensing area. This ensures minimal wastage.
The robot illumination feature using LED lights which makes sure that it can be easily used during the night as well.
It also has small PC-like set-up at the top for work and entertainment.

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Coro-bot not only allows sanitisation by users but it also sanitises itself to avoid spreading of viruses through surface contact. It has 3 nozzles at the back to spray disinfectant on itself. Moreover, it goes on sanitising the path it treads by using UV lights which do the primary sanitising of its path.

"I wanted to make this robot basically for our ward-boys and nurses who are at the forefront of treating corona patients'. But due to lockdown it became difficult to procure necessary material for the same," Tirodkar said.
He got help from Kalyan MP Shrikant Shinde.
"I, along with team of my 3-4 employees, made customizable components as many regular parts were not available due to the lockdown. When some of the components become available as the lockdown restrictions ease, we will improve the appearance of the robots", said Pratik.
Pratik also added that his unit has the capacity to make 2-3 robots per week, however the prototype took only 15-20 days to be made. Currently it is being used at Holycross Hospital in Kalyan.

Pratik and his team have created a special app for operating this robot so that it can be operated from far away places as well. The Internet of Things (IoT) mechanism will be used for this process.

IoT is the process behind the automation of home appliances, or smart homes.