Mumbai hospital gets robot 'Gollar' for Covid assistance; CM's office terms it 'important'

Use of robots for taking care of patients and assisting medical workers in hospitals has become prevalent during the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic as social distancing and associated precaution is the need of the hour even for medical professionals. Several hospitals across have adopted the use of technology to lessen the burden on staff members especially when they are flooded with patients.

A private hospital in COVID-hit Mumbai recently got its first robot 'Gollar' for assisting the healthcare staff. Gollar is a remotely controlled trolley that can carry medicine, food and other supplies for patients in quarantine wards of the hospital.

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Maharashtra Chief Minister's office on Tuesday shared a video of robot Gollar and said it is an important step in eliminating physical contact and reducing risk for medical staff in COVID-19 facilities.

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Robot screens passengers at Pune railway station

To intensify passenger screening and surveillance on railway premises, the Central Railway has deployed a robot at the Pune station that will lessen the burden on railway police personnel and other staff. Pune's Railway Protection Force launched the robot ‘CAPTAIN ARJUN’ to screen passengers while they board trains and keep a watch on anti-social elements.  

According to the Central Railway, Captain Arjun is equipped with a motion sensor, one PTZ camera (Pan, Tilt, Zoom Camera) and one Dome Camera. The cameras use Artificial Intelligence algorithms to track suspicious activity and antisocial activity, has an inbuilt siren, motion-activated spotlight H-264 Processor, there is also an in-built internal storage for recording in case there is a network failure.

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Captain Arjun does thermal screening and records the temperature in a digital display panel with a response time of 0.5 seconds and if the temperature is higher than the reference range, it sounds an abnormal automatic alarm with a counting capacity of 999. The robot has adopted a two-way communication mode – voice and video – and also speaks in local language. It is housed with speakers to spread awareness messages on COVID19. It also has a sensor-based hand sanitizer and mask dispenser and is mobile. The robot has a floor sanitisation facility with good battery backup. It has rugged wheels which support all kinds of surfaces.

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