COVID care robot to aid health workers during these trying times, manufactured by some brilliant young minds at CET

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Any help is significant in the fight against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Some students of the College of Engineering, Trivandrum (CET) has thought out of the box and have come up with a COVID care robot equipped with an autonomous navigation system to help out the health workers. The robot was designed and developed by the 2018-20 MTech Robotics and Automation students from the pioneering engineering institute in Thiruvananthapuram. The robotics project was carried out by a team of five namely Sanjuna Mariyam Thomas (team leader), Ajmal M, Harikrishnan K, Rojin Philip Reji, and Arun Sankar.

The project was supervised by Dr Sreeja, a professor at CET. The students were thoroughly supported by Dr Ranjith S Kumar, Dr Shiju Majeed (Trivandrum Medical College) through their suggestions. This robotics project was sponsored by 'Light House', an organization of the batch of 1987-91 at CET. The robot was developed as part of robot research and development.

Apart from the autonomous navigation system, the robot can be operated with a joystick. The robot also has features such as non-contact hand sanitizer and telemedicine. The production of this special robot took a time of just two months which also deserves applause. The robot was handed over to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, where its uses will come in handy.