Akanksha Kumari, a 22 year old girl from Patna has built a robot which shall act as a bridge between doctors and patients suffering from infectious diseases. This device helps maintain the necessary physical distance, which has been necessitated by the rampant spread of the Covid virus. Doctors and paramedic staff can administer care to the patients without the fear of contracting the disease themselves.
An undergraduate student of Electronics Engineering from BIT Durg(Chhattisgarh), Akanksha designed the software to control the robot while her father ably supported her with the hardware. Deeply moved by number of deaths and the innumberable problems faced by doctors in attending to the patients, Akanksha began to develop this unique product. The total investment for developing this robot was an estimated Rs. 1 Lakh.
Akanksha has demonstrated the robot before the Union IT and Law Minister Dr. Ravi Shankar Prasad and has persuaded both the state and central governments to allow the use of the product by Healthcare professionals and workers. Since the robot enables doctors to monitor the patient vitals in real-time and from a safe distance, she firmly believes that the stigma attached to the fear of contagion could be eliminated.
Thus far, Medi_robo has been successfully tested at three private hospitals in Patna and the results have been largely satisfactory. The robot also has been equipped to facilitate transportation of medicines, food, water, oxygen, and other medical equipment. The robot comes equipped with a 360-degree high-resolution night vision surveillance camera.
While the whole country is being engulfed by this pandemic, efforts of young, dynamic and innovative engineering students like Akanksha are indeed laudable.
