Mirza Samnani, a 23-year-old Mechatronics engineer with a passion for Space and Technology, has developed the world’s first Medbot which has been introduced at four COVID facilities in Mumbai. The first-ever bot was deployed at Podar Hospital by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to assist and reduce the risk for healthcare staff working tirelessly in hospitals amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Samnani told Mumbai Live that the trolley robot named ‘Gollar’ which has been deployed at Podar Hospital was completely fabricated by him and he has made four of it to reduce the risk and workload for ‘frontline warriors’.
“Each of the robots took an average of 3 days to be built. My friend and a few interns helped with the mechanical and logistics aspects. Even now the electronics, systems integration, testing, troubleshooting, deploying, training and improvisations are completely done by me,” he said.
Talking more about the robot, Samnani said that it was a food delivery and disinfection bot initially but got upgraded to a medbot with the capability to measure Electrocardiogram (ECG) of patients within 10 seconds. "Even MIT developed a similar, but inferior, bot much after my bot," he claimed.
‘Gollar’ is the world's first integrated semi-autonomous Medbot and is highly agile. It has a maximum payload capacity of 40 kilograms and is capable of providing food, water and medicines to nearly 110 patients at once. It also has the ability to perform contactless temperature checks which analyse, display, and alert the condition of patients without the need of a human nurse.
“I have built Lunar Mars and Underwater rovers. These vehicles are deployed in conditions which pose a risk to humans. In a high-risk environment like Conovirus, robots are most effective to reduce the risk of infection and workload of frontline warriors. Initially, it was a food delivery and disinfection bot which got upgraded to be a Medbot which measure vitals including ECG of patients within 10 seconds. It can be operated and monitored remotely,” he informed.
When asked about the government’s response, Samnani said that it took time at first for it to get traction but it received a lot of positive response. After field trials and the robot’s operational capacity, even the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) appreciated the impact.
“The robot is effective in saving the cost and usage of PPEs and reduction of workload. It will save up to 50 PPEs in one day at BKC Dedicated Hospital alone. These are a perfect fit for asymptomatic, mild and Moderately affected Patients” he informed.
Talking about the success rate of such robots in an emergency, Samnani said that the Medbot is a reliever to nurses and doctors as it runs for over 10 hours on a 90-minute charge and can check over 500 patients every single day.
“A remote ECG monitoring is implemented in the bot to show ECG of the patient remotely. This feature also makes it the first mobile ECG monitoring device which can be handy in critical emergency and non-availability of Patient monitoring equipment,” he said.
Samnani said that they will be manufacturing more medbots to match the demand while informing that these bots will have equal use and importance post-COVID for patients suffering from other infectious diseases.
Mirza Samnani has represented India at NASA five times, bagging seven International awards and wishes to expand his startup - Ignite Research Labs - to provide more opportunities for underprivileged and the needy “through a medium of education and research.” He has also conducted lectures and workshops in various institutions across India and the United State of America (USA).
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