Indian Engineering Students Built AI Tools To Better Fight Covid-19 In Rural India

Students from India's GH Raisoni College Of Engineering in Nagpur, Maharashtra recently created an AI-based online platform to store and generate user-specific information to strengthen India's ongoing battle against Covid-19.

During the months of May and April in 2021, India witnessed a devastating wave of Covid-19 infections. "It was a heartfelt moment for everyone, including the tech community. This was the point at which we felt compelled to do something for our country", the team behind the AI, who call themselves "Artificial Mind", told Indiatimes. The group includes Shivam Tawari, Atharva Khedkar, Aditya Bobde, and Vishal Narnaware from GHRCE.

Artificial Mind were inspired by the record daily 4,00,000 cases of Covid-19 during the peak of second wave in India to develop a machine learning tool based on a wide-ranging analysis of prevention policies and mitigation strategies.

Vishal Narnaware from GHRCE

Why Artificial Mind created CovidWizard

"After collecting data from different sources, during data analysis, we found out that different policies had a significant effect in the number of cases", Artificial Mind told Indiatimes.

Their AI-based tool is called "CovidWizard" and offers a Covid directory to two segments - general citizens of India and government officials. CovidWizard used the power of machine learning to predict hotspots of Covid on a week-by-week basis. In addition, CovidWizard uses AI-based tracking and monitoring to "assess the impact of various lockdown policies on Covid rates".

Atharva Khedkar from GHRCE

Also read: Teenage Hacker Who Found IRCTC's Security Hole Explains How He Did It

With CovidWizard, Artificial Mind alerted the authorities whenever a sudden spike was recorded in a particular area. "[CovidWizard] is integrated with a Covid Self-Assessment chatbot that is available in multiple native languages to help identify Covid-19 specific symptoms and recommend with the steps to be followed", Artificial Mind said.

That's not all! The life-saving tool is free and open-source. At the right place and at the right time, CovidWizard could help save countless lives and is testimony to the wide-ranging powers of machine learning in predictive measures against diseases and more.

CovidWizard: A globally compatible tool

CovidWizard is globally compatible too. Artificial Mind explained to us how the platform has been designed in a way that it may be used anywhere in the world, as long as data is readily available.

Aditya Bobde from GHRCE

In India, the student group processed data from 718 in real-time to provide accurate prediction and analysis of a Covid catastrophe when officials were unable to keep up with the spike during the second wave. But cooperation isn't always guaranteed. "Currently some districts are providing incomplete data. If every district administration ensures the quality of data, it will be very comfortable for us to implement it across India", Artificial Mind said.

Also read: Indian Startup Has Built World's First AR Social Network For More Real Connections

The team believes that AI-based platform could be "beneficial for everyone". For the government, it provides an opportunity to track patterns from current and emerging hotspots of coronavirus cases "which would help them implement suitable containment measures as appropriate".

Shivam Tawari from GHRCE

The ordinary citizen can also avail the benefits of this fantastic creation by following coronavirus trends through interactive charts. "The platform would be extremely beneficial to India¡¯s rural population, as we have a Multilingual Self Assistance Chatbot based on NLP that will ensure that rural people are not left behind".

Artificial Mind recently won Accenture's Applied Intelligence Hackathon for creating CovidWizard. The hackathon's theme was to create AI solutions for a better, Covid-free world.

What do you think about the fantastic achievement by these engineering students? Share your thoughts with us below. For the latest in the world of technology and science, continue reading Indiatimes.com.