A Tiruchi-based private company will shortly hand over 10 robots programmed for responding to voice commands to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital here where the machines would be deployed for serving food and medication to patients at the COVID-19 isolation wards.
A team of 20 engineers from Propeller Technologies, a robotics and artificial intelligence research company, has been manufacturing ‘Zafi’ , a voice-activated robot with built-in internet and other facilities as a learning assistant for school children. It was also being used in hotels and restaurants to serve food to customers.
“We have 10 robots, including a delivery rover, which were to be delivered to a customer. Due to the 21-day lockdown, we could not hand it over. Since we have the robots on hand, we decided to provide them to our district administration as a contribution towards the fight against COVID-19”, said Aashik Rahman, founder and CEO, Propeller Technologies.
A team of engineers, including Mr. Rahman, demonstrated the functioning of the voice-activated robot to Collector S. Sivarasu on Sunday morning. ‘Zafi’ can carry a load up to 7 kilos and can be controlled up to a distance of 250 metres they said. The rover can be used to transport luggage, food packets and other essentials.
The voice-activated function in the robot responds to patients’ queries after finding answers through Internet search. It can also record messages which can be played to the doctor, Mr. Rahman said.
The robots were tested at the MGMGH by nurses and doctors later in the day to understand the functioning in real-time. Speaking to the engineers, Mr. Sivarasu agreed to take the machines after certain modifications.
“We will put use it to serve food to patients at the isolation wards,” the Collector said.
