When the liquor shops opened in India during lockdown on May 4, it seems?hell broke loose and so did social distancing norms. Thousands of people came out of their houses, not giving a damn about being potentially infected by coronavirus, all craving for those do ghoont.?
However, eventually people realised (with the help of the police lathi) that social distancing measures were in fact still valid. So they came up with jugaads like keeping chappals or stones in lines as proxy.
A man in Coimbatore came up with one such jugaad. A Tasmac liquor shop received an unusual customer - a four-wheeled robot. It was standing in line with other people, securing a place for its maker, ¡®scoring¡¯ alcohol.? V Karthick, an app developer from the city made this robot and of the many uses it might have, one is to stand in line to get alcohol.?
Outside the liquor shop the robot moved along with the queue, in progression and when it reached the counter, the sales staff placed liquor bottles on a card board box kept on its platform, reports Asiaville News. The payment for the booze was done digitally via a smartphone attached to the robot and it was remotely accessed by Karthick from the safety of his home.
If you are thinking that the creation of the robot would have been very complicated, you would be surprised to know that the techie designed the robot with a simple mechanism comprising four small wheels used in kids¡¯ cycles, three lithium ion batteries and a gear used in cycles.?
¡°It took nearly an hour to make the purchase as there was a huge crowd. The robot can carry a load of up to 50 kgs, which I tested by placing a rice bag. The battery power can last for about four hours at a stretch and is chargeable,¡± Karthick told DT Next.?
The robot can be operated from the safety of home or anywhere else, needless to mention it ensures social distancing. ¡°The idea struck me after I saw such long queues in front of the liquor shops and disregarding the norms. I created the robot in two days with simple tools with just Rs 3,000,¡± he reportedly said.?
Karthick believes that this prototype robot can be configured to perform other functions like to check the spread of COVID-19 among health professionals without human contact.?
He has now officially made it to the list of Indians whose creative jugaads have literally saved the day.