UNS — The researchers from Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta successfully designed innovative technology named Robot Assistant (Roba) Multifungsi (Multifunctional), a robot designed to assist healthcare workers in handling Covid-19 patients.
The research team consists of Prof. Hartono, Ubaidillah, Ph.D, Dr. Sholihin As’ad, Hari Maghfiroh, S.T., M.Eng, M.Sc., and Joko Slamet Saputro, S.Pd., M.T. who initiated Roba since April 2020 with multiple objectives—first, reducing healthcare workers that handle Covid-19 patients. Covid-19 pandemic demands extra services from healthcare workers as the vanguard in this fight against the new Coronavirus illness. However, the limited number of healthcare workers available to provide treatments demands additional help from innovation to ensure the success of Covid-19 handling.
“The use of Roba also reduces Healthcare Workers physical contacts with COvid-19 patients, and therefore reducing the risk of transmission and the spread of the virus. This (the use of Roba) also reduces the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE),” Hari Maghfiroh said to uns.ac.id last February 2021.
Hari added that Roba was inspired by the Team Leader, Ubaidillah, experience sending goods for his relative who was receiving treatment for Covid-19 in a hospital. He remembered that he needed three hours to reach his relative from the hospital lobby because the goods need to went through several nurses before reaching the patient treatment room.
Multifunction
With their experience in designing freight robots or automatic guided vehicles (AGV) for private firms, Ubaidillah and the team took a similar concept with different features. When asked about a similar robot designed before Roba, such as Raisa ITS-Unair, Hari stated that Roba is similar and can be considered the development of its predecessors. However, Roba has other advantages and is more multifunctional.
The other advantages and multifunction are, first, Roba can deliver medicines and foods for patients with a total load of 100 kilograms. Secondly, Roba uses a large battery that provides a high power supply. Third, Roba’s stacking racks can be replaced with a disinfectant tank so that this robot can spray disinfectant in the hospital.
“Roba is also equipped with a camera and sensor to avoid obstacles because it is operated remotely by nurses. It also enables two-way communication,” Hari added.
The function as a communication tool is almost the same as a video call feature, enabling a patient to communicate with the nurse, such as calling or asking for goods from the healthcare workers in the control room.
In an interview with Gatra, Ubaidillah explained that the robot is designed to conduct room sterilization using Ultraviolet (UV) rays. At the front of the robot, an electrical connector is used as a power supply to add power when the hospital wants to perform UV ray sterilization using Roba.
Development
Hari and Ubaidillah stated that Roba needs further development and that it needs to pass the final test this March. Hari considers that Roba needs to be improved as a fully automatic robot so that from the start, nurses can manage and choose this robot destination. Ubaidillah hopes that this robot can be developed at the industrial level. Initially, this robot was designed for AGV with a mini electric platform concept.
“Initially, the concept for this robot is as robot AGV. Thus, after the pandemic is over, it can be used in industry,” Ubaidillah stated. Humas UNS
Reporter: Kaffa Hidayati
Editor: Dwi Hastuti
