Odisha Girl Develops Device For COVID Containment Zone Identification

Bhubaneswar: Eleven-year-old Pratibha Pallai of Khandagiri in the Odisha capital has developed a device for identification and surveillance of COVID-19 containment zones.

The application-based device, ‘Coronavirus Human Detector System’ runs on arduino codes. The user will have to install the application on a laptop and then connect it to the device. The user then sets the required radius of the zone he/she wants to keep under surveillance. The system starts to buzz and a red bulb on the device glows when someone trespasses into the zone and thus, minimizing the requirement of barricading it.

A Class VI student of Vikash Residential School here, she told The New Indian Express that a prototype of the device has been developed and it can be produced commercially.

“Many people make themselves vulnerable to infection unknowingly. Once the device is installed, people with disabilities will also find it easy to escape the containment zone. Visually challenged people can hear the buzzer and those with hearing disabilities can see the red light. It can also be used in border areas, antique and jewellery stores, private property, and countless others for safety as well as privacy,” Pratibha was quoted as saying by the national daily.

The device will come in handy with state governments opting for micro-containment zones to prevent the spread of the virus.

An enthusiast in robotics, Pratibha has so far bagged 15 Olympiad awards.

She wants to become a doctor-cum-entrepreneur and set up a hospital that will run by robots.