In Kerala, robots spreading awareness on Coronavirus pandemic
Story highlights
The start-up is trying to put the robots into use at public places like airports and malls and have sought permission from authorities.
A start-up firm in India's southern Kerala state has launched two robots to spread awareness about the fast-spreading coronavirus that has killed more than 4,000 people worldwide.
More than 134,500 people have been infected globally and over 4,900 have died, according to a Reuters tally of government announcements.
The robots, developed by Asimov Robotics, can be seen distributing face masks and sanitizers, giving information about the contagion and cleaning doors at a start-up complex in Kochi city.
"They are actually crowd-pullers. So people will gather around the robot and we can very effectively communicate this to the public," said Jayakrishnan T, the brains behind the robots.
The start-up is trying to put the robots into use at public places like airports and malls and have sought permission from authorities.
With just 74 confirmed cases of the virus and a single death, India, a country of 1.3 billion people, has so far fared better than elsewhere in Asia, Europe and North America.