Guided vehicles to deliver food & meds to Covid patients at KIMS

HUBBALLI: Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) is now equipped with advanced machines which deliver medicine, food to Covid-19 patients. To ease the supply of medicine and food to Covid patients, KIMS authorities roped in the service of an advanced machine developed by a team of budding techies.
‘Pradhaaya’, an automatic guided vehicle (AGV), has been developed by a team comprising eight students and fresh graduates from KLE Technological University (KLETU) and KLE Institute of Technology (KLEIT). The AGV moves on a designated track and stops at designated places near beds, for contactless delivery of food to Covid patients. The students took two-and-a-half months to develop the vehicle and it was handed over to KIMS recently. KIMS deputy medical superintendent Dr SY Mulkipatil said, “Currently the machine is being operated manually.
The installation work is in progress for it to work automatically. After the advanced machine roped in, the workload of our staff has reduced.” “The machine helped curtail multiple entries into the ward. The machine can carry a load of nearly 10 to 12 kgs at once. We are using it at the 50 bed-ward in the first floor to deliver 12 trays of food and medicines to patients,” he added. Madan Yaragatti, a robotics engineering student at KLETU, said, “It will ease the work of frontline warriors and developed the device. Its battery charge lasts for one full day. It can be operated both automatically and manually. Tracks are being marked at the Covid wards to facilitate its movement. The machine also has an obstacle sensor to prevent collisions.”