RPF deploys multi-purpose robot to screen passengers amid Covid-19 outbreak

The Railway Protection Force unit of Central Railway has deployed a robot to thermally screen and record temperature of passengers at Pune station in view of the novel coronavirus outbreak, officials said on Saturday.

The robot, named Captain ARJUN, acronym for "always be responsible and just use to be nice", displays the temperature in a panel with a response time of 0.5 seconds, said a CR release.

If the temperature of the passenger is higher than the reference range, the robot will sound an alarm, it added.

It also has a two-way communication mode, voice and video facilities as well as the ability to speak in the local language, the CR release further informed.

The robot has a sensor-based sanitiser and mask dispenser and battery-backed floor sanitisation facility, the release said.

It is equipped with motion sensor, pan-tilt-zoom camera and a dome camera which use artificial intelligence algorithms to track suspicious activity, apart from an inbuilt siren, motion-activated spotlight H-264 processor and internal storage for recording in case of network failure.

Alok Bohra, Deputy Inspector General, RPF, CR, said high Covid-19 infection rates prompted the force to consider robotic screening.

"Captain Arjun can also be deployed for station access control and will augment the overall security plan," he added.