The trial run of Tomodachi, a robot that instantly transfers patients’ information to doctors and nurses from COVID ward, will start at the Kannur Government Medical College Hospital in Pariyaram on Monday.
Developed by a team of students of Malabar Institute of Technology, Kannur, with the technical support of ThinkFoTech, the robot was recently handed over to the medical college. Health Minister K.K. Shylaja inaugurated it through videoconference.
Tomodachi, a Japanese term meaning friend, is a state-of-the-art system that includes a high-resolution camera that works automatically on Android.
The team of developers, including Assistant Professors A.N. Abhijith Kumar (CE), Rijoy GN(EE), Jitha B (ECE), Reshna T (CS), a team of students along with Shanthikumar (CTO, ThinkFoTech, Thalassery), claim that it is the first robotic system in the state to automatically identify a patient’s bed and then transfer the information to doctors.
Mr. Abhijith said that they developed the robot as per the requirement of the medical college in just one-and-a-half months. “The robot is enabled by Radio Frequency Identification. It works on colour code to identify beds and can be operated using Wi-Fi,” he said. The robot is designed to move automatically to the bed of COVID-19 patients as per the demand of the doctor monitoring them from a control room.
The camera allows the doctor and nurse to examine the ICU monitor, ECG graph, BP, oxygen saturation, and heart rate.
The robot will also enable doctors to communicate with patients. Mr. Abhijith said the machine, which cost them over ₹2 lakh, would be put on trial run initially in non-COVID ICU wards.
