South Central Railway has developed a robotic device, “Rail-Bot” (R-BOT), that helps assist in hospital management functions towards patient care.

The R-BOT underwent extensive trails and demonstration before being deployed for use in Central Railway Hospital, Lallaguda, Secunderabad.

It is being used to provide medicines, medical accessories and to serve food to the patients, without any need for physical contact. This will enable doctors, nurses and other support medical staff to stay away from the risks of contacting infections.

On the innovation by Hem Singh Banoth, Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Hyderabad Division, SCR and his team, Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, SCR, said it as a good achievement to strengthen medical care management, particularly in the prevailing Covid-19 situation.

Mobile app

The R-BOT is operated through a unique mobile application developed as part of the innovation, supported by WiFi facility.

The R-BOT holds sensor-based features to read the body temperature of patients and transmit the same for display on amobile phone. It is capable of raising an alarm in case of any abnormal rise in the temperature readings so as to alert medics attending to the patients.

The R-BOT has a real-time video camera with pan and tilt functions, acts as two-way audio and video communication with recording, facilitating smooth interaction between patients and doctors. It uses infra-red technology with emergency night lamp and night vision to enable communication even in complete darkness.

The R-BOT functions on a single charge of battery for six hours and can be operated by the Android mobile app and radio frequency remote controller.

Plans are in the offing to further innovate and develop the R-BOT in terms of optimal functional efficiency, which can lead to more widespread use of the device at the medical facilities on the zone, according to a statement from Ch Rakesh, Chief Public Relations Officer, SCR.