A city-based technology solutions company has developed a robot to scan customers’ body temperature, provide hand sanitisers and other assistance to them at showrooms. The robot, tested at a textile showroom, has received appreciation and further orders.
Many shops and showrooms, which reopened after lockdown norms were eased, had to deploy an employee to check the temperature of customers and provide hand sanitisers. But the employee too would be susceptible to the infection. Hence the need for robot, said Aashik Rahman, Propeller Technologies. Recently some employees at a few stores tested positive. As a possible solution, Mr. Rahman and his 20-member team developed Zafira, a fully automated voice-activated robot to screen temperature, detect face masks and provide hand sanitisers.
As soon as a customer enters the shop, Zafira will first ask for their name and contact details. She will then check their body temperature four times in a few seconds. “If the body temperature is normal, she will check if they are wearing a mask. She will then go on to dispense some sanitiser,” Mr. Rahman said. If the criteria is met, she will say “Hi! I am Zafira, Welcome to the store,” otherwise, she will ask them to return only when the conditions are met, he added.
Zafira was test-run at the Chennai Silks on West Boulevard Road. “We approached them to help us replace the person at the gate. It works very well and we are in talks to order some more,” said the manager of the store.
Now Zafira is being developed with some additional features. It can tell them where certain products are located and even advise them to maintain personal distance. “The robot has been programmed to turn 360 degrees and go all around the store,” Mr. Rahman said.
Since it is being used at a textile showroom, the exterior of the robot was made in such a way it can be dressed up with sarees and other clothes.
The robot will send detailed emails including the number of customers at the store at any given point of time, their contact details and body temperatures to the manager of the store on a daily basis.
Zafira, fully made in India, is proof that we do not need to depend of foreign inventions, Mr. Rahman said, adding that Chennai Silks has ordered 15 robots of which 10 will be delivered in a month.
