CooRo is Tiruvallur students’ ‘safe’ counter to COVID-19

The youngsters, who had faced discouragement when they requested for wheels at discount, built the robot out of scrap. “Around 80 per cent of its parts were sourced from a junkyard and 90 per cent of the device used was constructed using made-in-India products,” they claim. “We decided to avoid using Chinese products. However, we could not help but use a transmitter that was made in China. To satisfy ourselves, we developed a mobile application to control the robot,” says S Santhosh Kumar (19), who is pursuing Mechanical Engineering in Bengaluru. “We can control the robot using the app up to 20 feet distance.

Due to this, one has to follow it. However, through a remote, one can operate it from two kilometres away,” says Santhosh. The idea is to spray sanitiser in front of the containment zones/ houses and narrow streets instead of employing conservancy workers. Santhosh is part of the four-member team behind the development of the device. Among others, E Gokul is pursuing Computer Science at a private institution and R Naveen is studying ECE in the city itself. Their friend, K Sunil Kumar, an English literature stu dent, helps them develop content and maintain accounts.

The four had already designed a drone and were shortlisted at South India level by ISRO for their prototype Tsunami Alert Alarm. The youngsters have decided to meet the district Collector to make full use of their robot.