VNIT students develop robot to fight Covid-19

Students of Visvesvaraya National Institute Of Technology (VNIT) have developed a robot named ‘Sahayak’ to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. To protect the frontline workers, the students working at ‘IvLabs’, the robotics lab of VNIT, converted a hospital trolley into an automated robot that can be wirelessly controlled. Such a robot can be used by the hospital staff to deliver food packets and medicines to the Covid-19 patients and maintain a safe distance.Director of AIIMS first approached prof Pramod Padole, director of VNIT, with the idea to develop such a robot. Dr Shital Chiddarwar, associate professor at the mechanical department, took charge of the project. The current prototype was built by students Harshad Zade, Mohammad Saad, Uddesh Tople, and Unmesh Patil. The robot was handed over to Dr Mrunal Phatak, professor at department of physiology, AIIMS Nagpur, by Padole. Dr Saniv Chaudhary and Dr Prathamesh Kamble from AIIMS Nagpur and Dr Ajay Likhite and Dr Chiddarwar from VNIT Nagpur were present during handing over.