Tech to the rescue

NT KURIOCITY tracks the technological efforts by youngsters in the state to curb the spread of COVID-19, keep the public informed, and ease daily hardships
ANNA FERNANDES | NT KURIOCITY
From apps and digital services to 3D printing, Goa has been leveraging technology to keep the novel coronavirus outbreak in check and serve the public. On February 1, while the country was still coming to terms with its first COVID-19 case, five students at a Hackathon organised by BITS Pilani Goa Campus, built the first iteration of a coronavirus tracking app in less than 24 hours. As the cases increased, the youngsters, namely, alumnus, Dr KB Hedgewar Higher Secondary School, Panaji, Hrishikesh Bhandari; student of Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Shrey Keni; alumnus, Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Niket Kamat; student, Agnel Institute of Design and Technology, Sanket Marathe and student, Goa Engineering College, Salil Naik decided to further develop the app for public use. On February 21, the Corona Tracker was launched and in one day hit 1500 users. 
“The app relies on crowdsourced data that is then confirmed with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Ministry of Health and scripts that fetch and verify data from various press releases by state officials as well as eminent newspaper sources,” says Hrishikesh adding that in a bid to provide timely information, near to real-time data on coronavirus cases are available to the public on visiting www.coronatracker.in. The tracking tool, endorsed by NITI Aayog and Atal Innovation Mission, now has 3.8 million users, he adds.
When the lockdown was enforced and as worries about grocery availability and procurement of essentials heightened, Hrishikesh along with a team of youngsters conceptualised a tool to track grocers and food suppliers in the state. “Engineer and alumnus from Goa Engineering College, Devansh Cholera and his team had created an Excel repository containing all delivery contacts of grocery and milk suppliers and pharmacies. However, as accessing an Excel sheet would be inconvenient for people at large, we decided to launch an app,” he says.
To work on the development of the app, Dr KB Hedgewar’s Atal Tinkering Lab (Hedgewar ATL) was roped in. Here, class nine students, Sohail Bhandari and Parth Sambary guided by a team of alumni including Hrishikesh, Sanket and Yashwant Rivankar developed the app Goa Delivery which provided an area-wise list of stores and organisations delivering groceries, milk and medicines at people’s doorsteps. The app hit about 27000 users, shares Hrishikesh, however, the number has now significantly dropped due to ease of movement in the state. 
“At Dr KB Hedgewar, we learned that community service should be one’s number one priority,” says Hrishikesh, who along with Sanket is now a mentor at the Hedgewar ATL. “We have the skills, we have the resources, we have the manpower; and so, we decided to use this to help people during this pandemic.”
He adds that two days prior to the lockdown, it was decided along with headmaster, Dr KB Hedgewar Higher Secondary School, Panaji, Vilas Satarkar and Hedgewar ATL in-charge, Chintamani Shirodkar to create and donate 3D-printed face shields to the healthcare sector as an initiative of the Hedgewar ATL. “Collaborating with Swedish 3D printing community, 3DVerkstan, we redesigned a face shield with optimisations that highly reduced the print time and improved the structural composition,” says Hrishikesh. The Hedgewar ATL team aimed at producing and distributing the sterilised 3D-printed ‘f-24 face shields’ free of cost to the healthcare sector.
In a bid to ramp up production to cater to the growing demand, the team began to work on decentralised and outsourced community manufacturing. They roped in Goa Science Centre; Vidya Prabodhini’s LD Samant Memorial High School, Porvorim along with startups like Schematter CAD and Printing by Carl de Souza, and Innovent by Akhilesh Bhisso who helped with the 3D printing. Infynyt 3D by Ryan Vaz provided two 3D printers. Some others institutes which were roped in were Wagle High School, Mangueshi, AJD Almeida High School, Ponda and Goa State Innovation Council, Fatorda who provided the PLA (Polylactide) filament, while Sidharth Kuncalienker and Mahalaxmi Trust, Panaji helped in procuring raw material from Pune. “Taleigao-based social worker, Naresh Chari; vice president, Hedgewar Parents Teachers Association, Gaurish Silimkhan and Corporation of the City of Panaji corporator Pramay Mainkar have also been helping us with activities like transportation, etc,” says Hrishikesh, adding that the website www.faceshield.ml was also developed by alumnus of National Institute of Technology, Goa, Amey Kamat to provide detailed information about the f-24 face shield. 
“The shield, inspired by the headband design, makes it ready-to-use and provides full protection of the face,” shares Satarkar. “It’s self-fitting, balanced, and lightweight. It is also economical due to optimisation of raw materials used, comfortable for long duration of use and reusable by re-sterilisation.” The model, he adds, has also been created without the use of foam or sponge to prevent the buildup of moisture and bacterial growth and thus ensure reusability. 
Initially, the f-24 shields were donated to GMC in Bambolim, Asilo Hospital in Mapusa, and the quarantine facilities in the state. The team is now committed to provide 1000 shields free of cost to the Goa Medical Stores Depot, Government of Goa to be further distributed to various health centres across the state. The shields were also recently presented to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant who appreciated the initiative.
Meanwhile, Kristoff De Braganca from Mapusa, too, decided to help out as the demand for safety gear soared. “I’m concerned about this disease and I wanted to join the numerous makers doing what they can to help those on the frontline keep themselves safe and fight this pandemic,” he says. By setting his 3D printers on a task, he began churning out protective face shields at a rate of 50 each day.
He mentions that he began to test out designs when the 3D printing community started to very actively design prints linked to battling COVID-19. “I started to spend a lot of time researching the usefulness and viability of various designs and decided to go with one by Prusa Research,” he says, adding that he chose a tested and medically-approved (in Prague) design and modified parts around it. He then sent a sample to be medically approved here. “The shield is made up of a 3D-printed headband with a laser-cut visor in front of it and a laser-cut panel above it that helps protect the face against particles in the air, and an elastic strap around the back to hold it onto you,” he shares.
“The actual build process is pretty simple; only the top panel is glued on, everything else snaps into place. Once the headbands have been printed it does still take quite a bit of time to assemble by hand,” he says, adding that he usually spends seven-eight hours a day setting and maintaining the machines and assembling shields. And as per the feedback of doctors, the shields have gone through a few design iterations in order to make them stronger, safer and more robust so they can be sterilised and used multiple times, he adds. “But I’m constantly trying to improve it, which is proving particularly difficult considering the scarcity of resources right now.”
“The response has been incredible. I’ve received so much positivity from people I’ve given shields to and from people who just found out about what I was doing,” adds the 23-year-old hobbyist who has created a total of 402 shields, distributed approximately 300 shields and aims at further distributing 600 within the next couple of weeks. The shields have been donated to GMC, ESI Hospital, Margao; Goa Dental College, District Hospital, Mapusa; St Anthony’s Hospital, Anjuna; Directorate of Health among other hospitals, clinics, medical staff and volunteers. Those interested in obtaining face shields can reach out to Kristoff on Instagram at
@kristoff_braganca. 
And in a bid to ease public discomfort amid the enforced lockdown, Jonathan Pinto, 24, an IMBA degree holder in hospitality, travel and tourism, along with his brother Craig Pinto, 23, an alumnus of PCCE, decided to roll out a delivery system that would connect users to their favourite meals. “In the current coronavirus crisis, everyone is worried about their safety and their health besides being extra cautious to monitor their expenses; we thus aimed at providing a cost-effective and safe way for people to enjoy the foods they want.” Through the digital platform Eazy Eats, the duo tied up with local caterers to provide larger, better quantities at cost-effective rates.
“Presently, people are worried about the delivery aspect of the food and how the container may get infected during transit and thereby pass it on to the consumer,” says Jonathan, emphasising that they maintain a strict ‘no contact’ delivery policy and adhere to the safety recommendations set by the government.
“Once the food is prepared and packed, the delivery personnel do not come in contact with the packaging. The caterers place the food packages directly into the containers designated by order number. On arrival at the delivery address, the customer then picks their respective order from the container themselves, corresponding to their order number. Payment has also been maintained through online servicing thus negating the exchange of cash
altogether,” he says.
In the current scenario, the platform acts as an opportunity for people to not only support local businesses but also to relieve the stress of having to cook at home. Customers can choose from a range of dishes offered by the vendors and order the same. They aren’t limited to ordering from just one vendor as some platforms enforce and orders placed before 8 p.m. will be delivered the next day before 2 p.m. “The platform can now be accessed at www.eazyeats.in. We’re also working on developing apps that would ease the process for everyone,” he says adding that they currently offer their services to a select few areas but plan on scaling up operations in the near future.