Central Railway engineer made a robot to help the doctors fight the Covid 19.
Nagpur: In order to ensure the health of doctors and nurses when treating Covid-19 patients, a mechanical engineer from Nagpur, now part of the Solapur division of the Central Railway, has created a cost-effective robot that minimizes direct exposure to patients.
The robot, produced in-house for Rs 47,000, was brought into service at Dr Kotnis Railway Hospital in Solapur on Wednesday. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal praised the efforts of the Divisional Mechanical Engineer (DME) Suryakant Bhimrao Munjewar (30), who created the robot.
“There is a great need among all physicians and nurses fighting the coronavirus war to avoid direct contact with patients. In view of this, DRM Shailesh Gupta has inspired me to create this robot, “said Munjewar.
It’s very tough for Don PPE to be on call for six hours. It’s like wearing a raincoat in the summer. Munjewar told the robot worked within a range of 30 meters and minimized interaction by providing the required equipment such as hand sanitizers, medications, towels, fruit, etc. to patients. It can hold up to 7.5kgs of content.
“It’s got a one and a half day battery backup. A two-way video communication channel is available to allow physicians to interact directly with patients. The doctor should ask what the patient wants, “Munjewar said.
“Through this robot, doctors can pay full attention to patients. When a doctor outside the hospital has to be contacted, there is a video contact system, “he said.
Special care has been taken to ensure that no torque imbalance exists as the robot moves. The chamber was taken care of so that the robot remained stable.
Aluminium is used for the frame, which makes it lightweight. It ensures that the centre of gravity stays fixed at a single stage so that there is no possibility of moving the load anywhere, ensuring rigidity and stability. It proves to be a competent warrior in the fight against coronavirus. This is also sanitized by spraying liquid that has no water content.
DRM Gupta told TOI, “The robot has been helping doctors and nurses a lot in reducing interaction with Covid-19 patients. We’re planning to add two more features including pulse meter and BP calculation to make it more efficient. “Dr Anand Kamble, Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS), Solapur, is also pleased with the robot service. The robot concept was taken from a remote-operated trolley in the Asansol division of the Eastern Railway. Munjewar and his team, consisting of Viswanath Watkar, Shradha Kulkarni, Shrikant Kulkarni, Chandan Mane and Yogesh Watkar, worked 15-18 hours a day to create a robot in four days. The engineer developed a computer script and used Bluetooth to run it on a mobile device.
After the Solapur division successfully commissioned the device, it was requested by other divisions and physicians. Earlier, Munjewar had designed an automatic sanding machine used by loco pilots on slippery spots. This was the first breakthrough across the rail network
