Page 32 - Banking Finance June 2020

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an immediate access to medical facilities. Hero Moto Corp ventilators differ in how the air is delivered to the person.
is donating 60 first-responder mobile ambulances to An invasive ventilator is the most recommended type of
authorities as part of its ongoing initiatives towards the ventilator for patients with acute respiratory distress
Covid-19 relief efforts. These mobile ambulances will be syndrome (ARDS) making it more suitable for COVID-19
useful for reaching out to the patients located in rural and affected patients for respiratory support. It is suitable for
remote areas and comfortably moving them to the nearest India as it ensures the safety of frontline doctors dealing with
possible hospitals. the patients. The machines that can be tested on patients
can be out in a few days. Once the prototype is out, the
These ambulances have been custom-built as an accessory team targets would be to produce 30,000 units by May 2020.
to be fitted on Hero Moto Corp motorcycles, with an engine
capacity of 150cc and above. The ambulance accessories Engineers at NOCCA Robotics have prototypes of a portable
include sleeping arrangement with essential medical machine ready. They are being tested on artificial lungs, a
equipment such as a first-aid kit, oxygen cylinder, fire prosthetic device that provides oxygen and removes carbon
extinguisher and siren, the company said. These mobile dioxide from the blood. The entire project is being
ambulances will be handed over to authorities in multiple coordinated by Professor Amitabha Bandyopadhyay,
regions across India. professor-in-charge, Startup Innovation & Incubation Center
(SIIC), IIT Kanpur. Ansys is the first company which has joined
Hands-free door openers hands with the consortium and FIRST (Foundation for
Innovation and Research in Science Technology), the premier
Several varieties of hygiene-friendly door-hook are in the
pipeline - intended to help us navigate that tricky moment institute's company that oversees incubation activities of IIT
Kanpur, to speed up the development of these ventilators.
when we need to open doors with sanitized hands.
Epidemiologists estimate the corona virus can live on As part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative,
Ansys has come forward by offering a dedicated grant to
surfaces like stainless steel for three days, so these devices
could be a game-changer in environments such as hospital the project that will be utilised for procuring materials,
wards, where hand sanitation is a matter of life and death. testing, trials and other expenses.
Some door-opening devices have already found their way
to market - including the "hygiene hook", created by Nocca V110 is a modular, power efficient invasive ventilator
that operates in a pressure-controlled mode and the IoT (the
London-based designer Steve Brooks. Small enough to fit in
Internet of Things) enabled design allows multiple ventilators
a pocket and made from easy-to-clean non-porous material,
to be controlled via remote control. It has been designed in
the gadget is already available in four different varieties.
a way that it can be manufactured on a large scale at
Brooks has had requests from NHS Wales and is, meanwhile,
donating a hook for everyone he sells. multiple sites using materials easily available with Indian
suppliers and manufacturers. Speaking about the CSR
agreement, Rafiq Somani , Area Vice President - India and
ANSYS -An US Technology player to
assist IIT Kanpur to make ventilators
ANSYS, a US based global engineering simulation company,
has entered into an agreement with an IIT-Kanpur led
consortium to assist in the development of low-cost
ventilators to fight the COVID-19 outbreak in India.

Under the supervision of the consortium, NOCCA Robotics
Private Limited, an IIT-K incubated startup, is developing
indigenized and low-cost invasive ventilators called Nocca
V110, when someone is having severe difficulty in breathing,
they may need assistance from a ventilator which is able to
move air in and out of the lungs. Invasive and non-invasive

32 | 2020 | JUNE | BANKING FINANCE