Industrial Automation Magazine India

Kerala Students Design Robot that gives Food and Medicines to Patients

Published on : Wednesday 22-04-2020

The machine, which can travel up to one kilometre, distributes food, water and medicine in each room.

Kerala has achieved another first in its battle against Covid-19 pandemic, helping the health workers who are increasingly under pressure, according to a PTI news release. Students of Chemberi Vimal Jyothi Engineering College with the support of the Health Department have designed a remote control-operated robot can carry food and water for at least six persons at a stretch. Named 'Nightingale-19', the robot is deployed to provide food and medicines among patients at the district coronavirus centre in Ancharakandi in Kannur district where a large number of cases have been reported. The special display facility, attached to it, also allows patients to communicate with health workers and their relatives if necessary, the health minister's office in Thiruvananthapuram said.

The machine, which can travel up to one kilometre, distributes food, water and medicine in each room, a department statement said. The robot would be disinfected after each use, it said. Health Minister K K Shailaja inaugurated the new venture from Thiruvananthapuram recently through the robot's video facility, the statement added.

Robots have been put to use in other parts of the country to help in the health workers' fight against COVID-19.