Robot Prototype developed by ITS and RSUA

ITS Campus, ITS News – isolating patients who have been infected with Corona or Covid-19 are causing new problems that need to be solved, such as the risk of the medical personnel who take care of the patients. Overcoming this, the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) lecturer is trying to develop robot technology to minimize the contact of medical personnel with patients during the treatment.

Muhtadin ST MT, one of the lecturers from the team explained that until now there have been dozens of medical personnel in Indonesia who infected with COVID-19 disease from the patient and some of them die.

Seeing the fact, ITS collaborated with Universitas Airlangga Hospital (RSUA) to develop robot to treat the patient of COVID-19. “ITS are known for its ability to develop robotic technology, so we cooperate with Unair to develop this technology,” said this computer engineering lecturer.

The development of this robot is a collaboration between ITS through the Directorate of Research and Community Service (DRPM) with Universitas Airlangga (Unair). From ITS itself, lecturers from various departments work together to develop this robot. Some of them are from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Department of Computer Engineering, and the Department of Visual Communication Design.

The developed Robot, he continued, will be operated by medical personnel remotely to perform various tasks such as delivering food, clothing, and other equipment needed by the patient. “In addition, it can also be used to check the visual conditions using the camera installed in the robot, and also to communicate with the patient using the audio feature,” explained the lecturer of computer system engineering study.

Muhtadin ST MT operating the robot on trial

Muhtadin added, up until now there is already one robot that is a modification of the robot made by ITS back then and already entered the trial stage. Some other robots are still in the process of making mechanical and electronic. “In about one week, another robot could enter the trial phase,” he said.

This 1981-born man claimed, many obstacles in the project that had been running for two weeks. Lack of financial results by the absence of initial state funds, and the consequences of physical and social distancing, led to the lid of mechanical and electronic shops. “Students who return to their hometown, and can’t go to campus because of ITS lockdown also makes us in shortage of human resources,” he said.

Once the robot has been able to operate smoothly, ITS plans to develop a robot that can operate without the need for operators. “Once these urgent needs are fulfilled, a robot will be created to automatically serve the patient,” he said. (RI/Anjani/ITS Public Relation Officer)