Robots Vs Coronavirus

When Invento Robotics first started out, their Mitra Robots didn’t find any favour with hospitals. But ever since COVID-19 hit Indian shores, the same naysayers have turned into fans

- Mayukh Majumdar

When Balaji Viswanathan, Founder of Bengaluru-based start-up Invento Robotics first started out in October 2016, one of their aims was to work in the healthcare space. The company even approached some of India's largest hospitals with their flagship product, Mitra, a robot with AI capabilities that recognises guests based on facial recognition and also engages them in conversations, while simultaneously alerting the hosts of their arrival.

However, hospitals weren’t too keen on adopting Mitra, and the company moved into other industries, like banks and malls. The humanoid robot first gained fame when it was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ivanka Trump in November 2017 at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2017 conference in Hyderabad.

Three years later, Invento Robotics is becoming a key player in the healthcare market, with multiple hospitals vying for the robot during the pandemic. Currently, the robots are deployed in 10 hospitals in the country including Fortis Hospital in Bengaluru, Yatharth Hospital in Noida, and Apollo Hospitals.

We know that the virus has really stretched our health infrastructure’s bandwidth. While the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has stated that over 500 doctors in the country have died due to COVID-19, the actual number could be far more, as the Centre does not maintain a database of health workers who have succumbed to the virus. Vishwanathan’s robots cannot replace the brave frontline workers, but they can minimise contact, and thus, prevent more fatalities.

It all began in February, when COVID-19 was noticed, albeit slowly. Invento planned to start an office in China, the birthplace of the virus. However, by the time the company could re-engineer the robot for hospitals, India was feeling the effects of the virus, and a national lockdown was initiated.