COVID-19: Punjab Engineering Student Develops ‘Kawach’ To Help People Keep Safe Distance

New Delhi: Extraordinary situations lead to an extraordinary response and also new inventions. 

Coronavirus has necessitated changes in our lifestyle, such as maintaining two-metre distance from other people and washing our hands more than ever before. This can be quite a challenging task. 

An engineering student in Punjab claims he has found a solution to these challenges.

Prabin Kumar Das of Lovely Professional University (LPU) says he has developed a device, which he has named ‘kawach’ (shield). It vibrates and glows if someone breaches the user’s safe space. The device can be worn as a pendant and it also has a ‘hand wash reminder’. It beeps every 30 minutes to remind the user to wash his/her hands. It also has a temperature sensor that sends an alert to the user through SMS in case his/her body temperature crosses the prescribed limit.

According to Das, Kawach is a low cost and easy to carry device that comprises an LED, vibrator, controller, battery, human body temperature sensor, ultrasonic sensor, switch and a storage card.

“I noticed that people were finding it so difficult to maintain a safe distance despite knowing how important it is. I thought the reminders we are giving each other are not enough and we need a constant reminder, hence I worked on the pendant,” Das told PTI.

Once commercialised, the device will be available for around Rs 500 and if produced in bulk, it can be made available at Rs 400, said the PTI report.

“While the whole world is grappling to find a vaccine for COVID-19, ‘kawach’ is our effort to contain the spread of this deadly virus,” said Lovi Raj Gupta, Executive Dean of Science and Technology at LPU. “We have already tested it internally and are now looking for the right partners to commercialise it,” he added.

Das was supervised by faculty members at the university, including Rajesh Singh, Anita Gehlot and Varun Panwar, reported PTI.