IIT Guwahati sets up self-operated kiosks to trace viruses and bacteria; read more

The Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati or IIT Guwahati has partnered with a private company from Udaipur and launched a newly set-up, made in India, self-check kiosk. In the race-to-find remote, no-contact solutions for checking people for COVID-19, IIT Guwahati has made a leap with the self-checking kiosk which will not require any human technician or operator once placed at entryways and gates.

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The kiosk will help identify people with possible COVID-19 symptoms. The machine can check the following in a matter of seconds-

1. Person’s body temperature
2. Oxygen level
3. Viral infection
4. Breathing
5. Bacterial infection

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The official statement by ITT Guwahati claims the self-check kiosk to be ‘quick but accurate’. IIT Guwahati issued the statement which mentioned that the kiosk aims at, “gradual easing of public lockdown measures and return to normal life, it is the need of the hour to ensure safe entry to any premises. The fully automated touch-less self-check kiosk has been designed as per the WHO guidelines. It instantly detects and records the syndromes associated with COVID-19 like body temperature and blood oxygen content and raises alarm in case it is beyond the limits.”

Some of the features that the kiosk includes are-

1. UV-C disinfectant- to kill any bacteria or virus present on surfaces like phones, wallets, bags, clothes and more.
2. It has scanning and monitoring devices required to read the person’s normal or abnormal vitals.
3. It is also covered and isolated and has a sterile environment throughout.

The device has been founded and developed under the leadership of Dr Senthilmurugan Subbiah, who is the Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Guwahati. He has worked alongside Puneet Talesara, an alumni of the college and also a founder of Workspace Group.

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Dr Senthilmurugan Subbiah made a statement regarding the development and said, “The kiosk installed at IIT Guwahati campus is IoT enabled and its data analysis system is capable of face identification and creating employee/person health historical data. Kiosk’s AI-based software system is capable of monitoring an individual’s health from historical data and in case of abnormal temperature and SpO2 level measured than the kiosk generates the alarm to health department authorities of their company/organisation/institute. The innovative UVC system design is capable of emitting UVC radiation from 6 surfaces of UVC box and that provides 99.99 % of viruses’/bacteria disinfection in 10 seconds.”

The statement by IIT Guwahati further mentioned that, “With the gradual easing of public lockdown measures and return to normal life, it is the need of the hour to ensure safe entry to any premises. The fully automated touchless self-check kiosk has been designed as per the WHO guidelines. It instantly detects and records the syndromes associated with COVID-19 like body temperature and blood oxygen content and raises alarm in case it is beyond the limits.  The Kiosk features first of its kind UV-C disinfectant box capable of killing viruses/bacteria present on the surfaces of luggage, bags, keys, mobiles, wallet etc. thereby reducing the risk of spreading.”

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