Technology has been providing the most effective ways of supporting the healthcare sector by innovating strategies for curbing the spread of COVID-19. Vadodara’s PU has blended its e`ngineering and medical fields to provide sustainable solutions for ensuring the welfare of COVID patients, while at the same time looking after the well-being of the staff members. The University’s Professor Om Prakash Shukla took the innovative step of developing an automated robotic cleaner, for cleaning inaccessible parts of the COVID wards to ensure the safety of cleaning staff by maintaining minimum contact with the patients. Parul University has been taking an interdisciplinary approach to its teaching and learning process, thus employing the technologies of one field, to solve the challenges of the other.

This innovative project called “Clenoroboflex” is a recent addition to the University’s long list of in-house developed technologies. It is a remote controlled vacuum cleaner with a 15 meter long working range, making it convenient for usage in infectious diseases wards. The device can be operated by a single person and can operate it from a safe distance. This new development will significantly reduce the traffic flow due to less manpower required and the use of multiple cleaning equipment for the sanitation and cleaning of hospital and healthcare establishments. The invention has been made for use at the University’s 750 bedded multi- speciality hospital, Parul Sevashram Hospital.

This distinctive robot is battery operated with two hours of continuous work along with provisions for battery back-up. This extended battery life is significant because a single charge can cover a wider radius and ensures a continuous flow of uninterrupted usage. Moreover, it has been uniquely made from local materials without the use of any welding and has a body structure of PVC, resulting in it being very lightweight and battery sustaining. For its application in the medical field, it is of utmost importance that the machine must be quickly and easily sterilised for reuse. Since the robot is made of PVC, it can be easily disinfected by standard disinfecting solutions used in hospitals.

The rise of superimposed infections like the recent outbreak of mucormycosis or the black fungus in COVID patients is an attestation to the importance of proper cleaning and sanitation in hospitals for the immunocompromised patients. During these times, there is a need for medical support staff to maintain a limited proximity to COVID-19 patients, to curb the rate of cross-infections and these kinds of inventions really come in handy in hospital environments. Parul University has built a reputation of providing its faculties and students with platforms for bringing their ideas to life and time and again coming up with thoughtful solutions for the issues faced by the general society.