Robots are helping people maintain social distancing and minimise spread of coronavirus by dispensing sanitiser to people at the district collectorate and giving food and medicines to patients at the COVID-19 designated hospital here.
Fitted with sensors, a bright red robot at the collectorate detects human presence and dispenses sanitiser.
"We have deployed a robot, made by local engineering students, at COVID-19 control room at the collectorate. The robot is used for giving sanitisers to employees and visitors, thereby avoiding human involvement in the job," District Magistrate, Bulandshahr, Ravindra Kumar told PTI.
A similar robot has been deployed in the COVID-19 hospital in the district on Monday for giving food, water and medicines to patients to help reduce contact between healthcare workers and positive cases, the DM said.
The robot, which has the capability to walk, can work for one to one-and-a-half hours at a stretch after which its battery needs to be recharged.
"Now we have two robots. But, we are facilitating the makers to buy spare parts so that they can deliver more. We have started using their services of robot for giving food, water and medicines to patients in COVID hospital," the DM said.
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These robots will not only help doctors and staff but also prevent them from direct contact, thus avoiding infections, he stressed.
He said credit for the robot goes to local techies - Nishant Sharma and Atul Kumar - both pursuing engineering courses at separate private institutions in Noida.
Sharma said, "When we came to know about the disease and the way it spreads, we thought of doing something. We made this robot after toiling for over a month.
"We named it 'Delta 3.0'. It has sensors and as one comes near, the gadget pours sanitiser in the hand of the person," he explained.
The robot has a display and speaker through which it can give instructions to patients and display the fed message or slogans, Sharma said.
It is controlled through a mobile application, he said, adding that it costs over Rs 1 lakh but if supported by the government the price could be brought down.
The administration has also started mobile contactless thermal scanning for thermal screening without human touch.
Till Sunday, Bulandshahr district has reported 15 coronavirus cases of whom two have been discharged while one COVID-19 positive patient has died.
Health officials said 12 active cases were still there. Among the affected persons, nine belonged to Tablighi Jamaat.
The DM said that each of those in institutional or home quarantine have been given a soap, two washable face masks and hand sanitisers.
"We are also giving 25 kg bleaching powder and 20 litres of sodium hypochlorite for sanitisation of villages as a precautionary measure," he added.
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