'He gave me a high-five': Mumbai innovator creates robots that will assist during pandemic

A Goregaon innovator Santosh Vasudeo Hulawale has used the outbreak to create robots that will assist during the pandemic Hulawale 40 a computer engineer doing research and development in robotics since he was 19 has created several robots through the years starting on his own ldquoI started Indro Robotech Pvt Ltd in September 2020 and have a team of engineers working alongside merdquo The company manufactures a range of humanoid robots service robots and industrial robots and also provides robots on rentFour scoreHulawale claimed that they have made four robots specific to the Covid19 situation ldquoToday the robots generally being deployed during the Covid19 situation need an operator who manoeuvres it manually with a remote control Yet the idea of using a robot is to minimise human interventionrdquo he stated The Indro Robotechrsquos basket of Covid19 situationspecific four robots ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 9 lakh goes by the names MSRS1 Multiple Service Robot size 1 SHR Service Humanoid Robot MTR Massage Therapist Robot and DMRS1 Disaster Management robot size 1Hulawale claimed that the first robot could be custom preprogrammed for any kind of health facility ldquoIf we want the robot to deliver a particular type of food or medicine to particular patients select the programme in the robot with a click of a button after which it will automatically follow the path and deliver the items The robot will also return to its original position by itself The operator has to specify the task by clicking a button on his device after which human intervention is overrdquo he saidAlso Read Mumbai Engineering student creates system to ventilate PPE kitsBeing humanThe human touch though is just what the Covid19 afflicted in isolation need The mentally tough phase is compounded by the lack of companionship but ldquoa robot can replace thatrdquo said Hulawale who knows loneliness is a very real aspect of Covid19 because of the nature of the diseaseThe tech team pointed to the Service Humanoid Robot SHR which they said is ldquobasically a humanoid robot which can be used to give a more humanlike experience to the patients Apart from delivering food water and medicines it can interact with patients not only vocally but also physically The SHR is a life size 510 feet tall humanoid robot which has 10 functional axes or joints also known as degrees of freedom The robot can dance shake hands give a highfive wave goodbyerdquoDisaster managementStill in the making though another robot that substitutes for human therapy the selfexplanatory Massage Therapist Robot ldquois under development Yet it will be capable of giving a healthy or ill patient a full massagerdquo said Hulawale pointing to the already developed DMRS1 a Disaster Management robot size 1 which he said is a sixaxis robot with a very sturdy rover which can carry a massive weight of up to 400 kgsldquoThis robot can be used to spray sanitiser and a single unit of DMRS1 can disinfect a very large area with minimal human intervention It can also carry patients from ambulances to the hospitals or quarantine centres and back and those with physical disabilities to the restroom and backrdquo Hulawale claimed adding ldquoThe Disaster Management machine because of its size and functions can be programmed to extinguish fires or act as a security guardrdquo It is an emergency robot signed off the team for Covid19 is an emergency that has upended our world order