Wipro unveils sanitisation walkways, robots to fight the coronavirus

Wipro Infrastructure Engineering (WIN) on Thursday launched a 'sanitisation walkway', joining forces to fight with the Covid-19 pandemic while the Azim Premji-owned company also unveiled two other products, which are currently in the pipeline. These include an automated graded vehicle (AGV) capable of delivering food and medicines to a Covid-19 patient, and also an AGV which can sanitise a large area with UV rays.

According to the Bengaluru-headquartered company, ClearWalk, the sanitisation walkway is basically an enclosure which has been fitted with specially designed spray nozzles creating fine water particles sized between 50 to 100 microns to give maximum coverage to the person walking through. Developed in collaboration with DRDO, these modular setups can be installed within 6-8 hours.

“In crowded areas, mass sanitisation techniques such as ClearWalk is an additional measure to minimise infection. It is ideal to be placed at the entry and exit of offices, factories, hospitals, hotels, educational institutions and malls,” said Pratik Kumar, CEO of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering.

Developed in four weeks, these walkways have already been installed at Wipro’s campuses and factories. The walkway has been priced between Rs 1-1.3 lakh per unit and will be available commercially in 3-4 weeks, the company said.

A team of DRDO engineers helped in optimising the walkway in terms of spray efficiency and nozzle position, said G Sundararaman, senior vice president & head, WIN Automation. The product will be manufactured at Wipro’s manufacturing facility in Bengaluru and the capacity is scalable depending on the market demand, said the company.

WIN’s second Covid-19-specific project called MediKart is a robot equipped with a monitor, which can carry medicines and other necessities to patients so that exposure of the virus to health workers is minimised. It is also fitted with a camera which allows the health practitioner to observe the patient remotely. The robot is currently under testing in a Bengaluru hospital.

Another project, the Wipro Infrastructure Engineering team is working on, is also a robot or an AGV that is capable of sanitizing areas inside a complex. The robot, which will have a UV sanitisation arm mounted onto it, is expected to be launched in a month, the company said.