Robots to clean coronavirus wards at AIIMS, Delhi

Milagrow, a leading consumer robotics manufacturer in India, will test AI-powered robots iMap 9 and Humanoid ELF in the COVID-19 ward at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. These robots will sanitise the ward. Manufactured in India, iMap 9 is a floor disinfecting robot that can navigate and sanitise the floors without any human intervention.

"Countries like United States, China, and Italy have already successfully implemented AI-based robots at health facilities to minimise human intervention in treating COVID-19 patients, and India can replicate the same to provide some relief to its frontline healthcare workers in their battle against coronavirus," said Rajeev Karwal, Founder Chairman of Milagrow.

Company sources said the robots can destroy COVID-19 spores on floor surfaces using sodium hypochlorite solution, as recommended by ICMR. The robot moves around autonomously without falling, avoiding obstruction while planning its own path, guided by LIDAR and advanced SLAM technology. Milagrow's patented Real Time Terrain Recognition Technology (RT2RT) scans at 3600, 6 times per second to make a floor map in real time with an accuracy of upto 8mm over a 16m distance. This enables the iMap 9 to perform successfully in the first attempt, whereas other robots can take twice or thrice the time. Additionally, the robot can do zoning, virtual blocking of avoidable areas and sequential cleaning of zones based on specific needs.

The Milagrow Humanoid ELF enables doctors to monitor and interact with contagious COVID-19 patients remotely with no person-to-person contact, thereby significantly reducing the transmission risk. Bored patients in isolation wards can also interact with their relatives from time to time through this robot. The Humanoid ELF can navigate around the ward independently and record the activities in high definition video and audio. Offering 8 hours of battery life, it can travel about 2.9 km per hour, is 92 cms tall, has more than sixty sensors, one 3D and one HD camera, and a 10.1-inch display screen. The advanced humanoid features eyes with Emotion, Open API for further development and customisation. Both the Milagrow iMap 9 and Humanoid ELF come with the auto charging feature.

Milagrow, started in 2007, had earlier developed intelligent robots, including India's first dry and wet 3D mapping floor cleaning robot in 2016.

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