Kerala engineering college team builds humanoid medical robot from scrap

A group of engineering students from the KMEA Engineering College here has developed a humanoid medical robot from the scratch, that too by using just scrap material and steel.
The KMEA student team members with the humanoid robot they built | EXPRESS
The KMEA student team members with the humanoid robot they built | EXPRESS

KOCHI: A group of engineering students from the KMEA Engineering College here has developed a humanoid medical robot from the scratch, that too by using just scrap material and steel. The team that developed the ‘Fuego Robo’ comprises 10 students from the Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and the Electronics and Communication Engineering departments of the college. They were supported by the e-Yantra Robotics Lab.

According to the team, the robot can play a crucial role in education institutions or companies in the private as well as government sectors. “The robot, through its visual system, can detect a person’s presence and position, introduce itself, measure the human body temperature and the oxygen level in the blood, and sanitise our hands. We planned the project keeping in mind the limited availability of raw materials in the college,” said Umarul Farooq T M, a team member.

“The project was undertaken as a part of the KMEA Innovation Council,” said Naeema Nazar, another member of the team. “The robot was built at a cost of `10,000. We used the scrap materials available in the laboratories,” she stated. Naeema further added that the team was planning to come together to set up a startup after graduating from the college. 

According to George Immanual, it felt great to work as a team for something good. “This robot is the result of the hard work and dedication of our innovation team. I am very happy at this moment. I’m looking forward to doing more projects like this with my friends and team members,” he said. 

The ideation sessions were the most exciting for Vinaykrishna V Vinod. “Different ideas and solutions kept being pitched. We got to explore more engineering stuff and interact with the content mindset,” he said. 
But why the humanoid robot? Such a robot has many future applications, said Naeema. “We can use it in hospitals, malls, industries and all other sectors. By placing this robot in all private and public places, we can reduce the need for people’s intervention. This will reduce human contact amid the pandemic,” she said. 

Besides using scrap materials, the team used Raspberry Pi, batteries, boosters, and wires to build the robot. “Raspberry Pi is the chief component and acts as a small brain for our robot,” said Amal Vijay.
Meanwhile, Abdul Hafis pointed out that coding was another important aspect of the project. “For the proper functioning of the humanoid robot, we had to learn different languages and prepare particular codes,” he said.

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