A start-up, Marut Dronetech Private Limited, founded by IIT Guwahati alumni has developed and deployed drones for spraying disinfectant in public spaces to prevent Coronavirus. To control COVID-19 situation, drones have proved to be of great use as seen in countries like China and South Korea.
Marut Dronetech is working with the Government of Telangana and departments across the state to deploy drones for public safety applications. Recently, Karimnagar Municipal Corporation, Telangana, had deployed customised drones of Marut Drones for spraying disinfectants in Mukarampur area of Karimnagar where 10 Indonesians and 1 local had tested positive for COVID-19. Disinfectants were also sprayed at District Collectorate, Municipal Corporation, District Hospital, Bus Station, Auto stand, markets, Police Commissionerate and Rythu Bazars.
In a given time, it is seen that drones disinfect 50 times more area than traditional methods and can keep human operators out of harm. Thus, they prove to be efficient, avoids any cross infections and stops the spread of a pandemic.
Speaking about his start-up and the way it can contribute in this situation, Mr. Prem Kumar Vislawath, Co-Founder and CEO of Marut Dronetech Private Limited , said, “At a time when countries across the world are submitting to mass lockdowns owing to the ongoing pandemic, Drone has emerged as a fresh breath of air, by proving to be an alternative and plausible lifeline for stranded populations advised social-distancing, at the time of the COVID-19 crisis. Nations across the world have imposed quarantines in an attempt to control the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Drones could be the best solution to spray disinfectants and reduce infections, monitor people movement for crowd control, emergency delivery of medicines to those quarantined and elders. The contactless, fast-paced operations will strengthen anti-COVID-19 efforts of the government.”
Marut drones have also developed Public Monitoring and Warning Drones which are fitted with a camera and speaker. These can be used by personnel to monitor places especially with high disease prevalence for crowd gathering and give appropriate instructions, using fitted loudspeakers, to people. As this is much faster than regular patrolling operations, it can be very efficient not only for patrolling but also to spread the message. These drones can be used in places where people are still seen moving around streets and government personnel are having a hard time implementing a strict lockdown.
