CSIR-CMERI Develops Robotic Device To Collect Samples Of People Having COVID-19 Symptoms

Kolkata: The CSIR-CMERI in Durgapur has developed a low-cost robotic device that can be used for collecting samples of people having symptoms of coronavirus, besides treating COVID-19 patients.

The ''Hospital Care Assistive Robotic Device'' will be very helpful for the frontline healthcare workers who are treating COVID-19 patients, said professor Harish Hirani, director of CSIR-CMERI (Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute).

It will help them in delivering services while maintaining social distancing, reducing the chance of them getting infected, he said.

The cost of the device is less than Rs 5 lakh and the weight is not more than 80 kg, making it easy to use and affordable for healthcare facilities, Hirani said.

The device, which has a video call facility, can also be used in providing food to the patients.

The device can be navigated through automatic and manual modes and needs to be monitored by a nursing booth with a control station.

"It will be able to transport food items, medicines, testing equipment, files, personal protective equipment in a comprehensive sterilised environment," Hirani said.

A spokesperson of the institute said the device can function in a range of 0.5 km and has a battery life of four hours.

"The clinical trial of the device has been successful. We will be ready if healthcare facilities and governments show interest," he said.

The number of coronavirus fatalities in West Bengal rose to 22 on Tuesday, while the active cases increased to 522, a senior official said.

"The death audit committee has declared that two more patients have expired due to Covid 19, taking the toll due to the disease in the state to 22," chief secretary Rajiva Sinha told media persons at the state secretariat Nabanna.

Sinha said over the past 24 hours, 28 fresh cases have been detected, while ten patients were discharged from hospital after recovering fully.

"So the number of active cases in the state now stands at 522. The number of people tested for the virus over the past 24 hours is 1,180, taking the total count to 13,223," he said.

So far, 119 patients have been discharged from the state since the outbreak of the pandemic.

According to the top bureaucrat, all the fresh cases were received from five districts.

While Kolkata, Howrah and 24 Parganas North accounted for 75 per cent of the cases, the remaining cases came from Hooghly and 24 Parganas South.

(With Agency Inputs)