Covid-19: IIM Kozhikode incubated startup develops robot for swab sample collection

IIM Kozhikode startup has come up with a robot to do the swab sample collection process, hence, reducing the risk of frontline healthcare workers from getting infected.

Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode incubated startup has developed a functional prototype of a robotic swab sample collection arm which can be remotely controlled for safe and speedy swab sample collection process.

The IIM Kozhikode startup ispAgro specializes in drone and robotics technology and is one of the many start-ups mentored by IIMK’s business incubator and entrepreneurship development center, LIVE, the Institute said in a statement.

The start-up, is see-funded by the collaborative initiative between IIMK LIVE and Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL). The startup has developed this robot which will help in reducing human contact with the infected coronavirus patients while collecting the test sample. This, in turn, will help in reducing the risk of frontline healthcare workers from getting infected, while doing the test sample collection.

The robot armed with a 180-degree rotation gripper is extendable up to one meter in length, the statement said.

Using an android app, a technician can easily operate it and regulate its movement beyond a safe physical barrier.

“The unprecedented crisis that the world finds itself in can only be countered by rapid innovations backed by indomitable spirit. The resolve shown by this start-up to come up with this robotic intervention in a short time speaks volumes about how indigenous talents nurtured in a cultivable, creative environment can lead the way in an hour of crisis,” Professor Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM Kozhikode said

Adding further, Avinash Rao, Founder – ispAgro Robotics said that the company is planning to enhance the prototype by including AI-based operators less control so that the robot can be deployed at the level of Primary Health Centres (PHCs).

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