Kerala govt hospital deploys robot to serve COVID-19 patients

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A government hospital in Ernakulam here has deployed a robot to serve food and medicines to coronavirus patients with an aim to reduce risk of infections for doctors and health workers.

Malayalam star Mohanlal's ViswaSanthi Foundation donated the autonomous robot to the COVID-19 ward of the Ernakulam government medical college hospital.

The robot named 'KARMI-Bot' will be used to assist patients at the medical college's COVID-19 isolation ward from Saturday onwards, the Ernakulam district public relations department said in a release.

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The robot is developed by ASIMOV robotics, a company working under maker village of Kerala start-up mission.

"Dispensing food, medicine, collecting the trash used by the patients, performing disinfection, enable video call between the doctor and patients etc are the main responsibilities of the robot", the release said.

The purpose of this project is to limit the interaction between COVID-19 patients and health workers as well as to address the shortage of PPE kits by minimising its use, it said.

Once configured, the robot will be able to perform its duties fully autonomously. Carrying a payload of up to 25 kgs, the robot is capable of achieving a maximum speed of 1m per sec.

UV based disinfection and targeted detergent spray are the additional capabilities of KARMI-Bot, which featured in the latest cover story of Forbes magazine.

ASIMOV Robotics aims to incorporate contactless routine temperature checking and automated charger docking to KARMI- Bot, once the spare parts are available after lock down.

The robot was handed over to District Collector S Suhas by the directors of ViswaSanthi foundation Major Ravi and Vinu Krishnan along with Jayakrishnan, CEO of ASIMOV robotics in a function at Start-Up Village.

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