BENGALURU: Right before the first set of students from outside Karnataka set foot into the campus, the Indian Institute of Science has set up an elaborate sanitisation mechanism that has been developed by in-house startups — Srushti Innovation by former professor of Aerospace Engineering K P J Reddy and Papercats by Gururaj Nayak.
A total of 1,181 PhD, MTech and Integrated PhD students residing within and outside the state are expected to return during the first phase. Those from within Karnataka were given a slot from June 8 to 10 and those from outside are expected to return from June 15 to 20, as per institute authorities. The tunnel ‘Dwaar’ ensures complete sanitisation of individuals and their luggage in 20 seconds.
To use the facility, one only has to place the luggage in the UV-based bag sanitization chamber, stretch a hand for sanitiser at a sensor-based system, then go on to the first step to the chamber which doubles as a shoe sole sanitiser. Wave a hand to open the door, and a wall-embedded camera checks for temperature under authorised levels.
The person then enters an air blower, following which a hand gesture allows the exit, from where the person can collect the luggage and sanitize hands again. The tunnel also works as a measure of surveillance too, with an automated ID checking mechanism.
Prof Jagadeesh, who has mentored the teams that have developed the tunnel, said the facility is predominantly for students who come back to hostels from outside Karnataka. For other staffers, there is thermal scanning. At present, the facility is only set up at the main gate entrance, opposite BHEL.