The department of Informatics in the School of Computer Science at UPES is currently engaged in developing a robot which will be able to sanitise narrow lanes, car parks, slum areas and other small pockets. Assistant professor Shubhi Sharma is being supported by BTech final year student Neel Adwani in developing this robot which they have named “SaniRobo”.
Sharma says that this idea occurred to her while she was watched television news showing people physically sanitising a slum area putting themselves at risk. She informed that SaniRobo will be compact in size and light in weight mounted on three rotatable wheels. In order to keep the weight of the commercial model light, polypropylene is proposed to be used. The dimensions of the equipment would be less than two and a half feet on any side. It will be equipped with a sanitiser dispensing sprinkler at the top having the ability to move in all directions coupled with a high powered camera. The two litre capacity sanitiser dispensing unit placed at the bottom together with the weight of the battery will also assist in the stability of the robot and prevent it from toppling.
Adwani informed that the robot will be powered by a battery which could enable it to work for about two hours on a single charge. Movement of the robot and camera operations will be controlled and monitored through a mobile application, thereby giving the flexibility to the owner of the robot to access it from anywhere. It can also be charged by solar energy from the solar panels mounted on the equipment.
UPES senior director Arun Dhand informed that the patent for this has already been filed under the title “sanitising apparatus and method for dispensing sanitiser solution”. Development of the prototype will be taken up shortly.