A robot made out of old pans and discarded electronics is being used to bring food and smiles to self-isolating Indonesians with Covid-19.
Indonesian villagers and scientists put together a robot made of household items for fun.
But they have since been using it to bring food and smiles to self-isolating residents with Covid-19.
The robot, made of a hodge-podge of trash like old pans, a television monitor, a speaker, and several toy cars, is now named “Delta robot” after the highly contagious coronavirus variant.
Its creators live in the village of Tembok Gede in Surabaya, the capital of East Java province.
They’re known for their creative use of technology.
Seeing the surge in cases caused by the Delta variant, the neighborhood leader who heads the project, Aseyanto found a new use for the robot.
“I decided to turn the robot into one used for public services such as to spray disinfectant, deliver food and meet the needs of residents who are self-isolating," he told Reuters.
The robot's head is made from a rice cooker, and it is operated by remote control with 12-hour battery life. The base uses an old toy car chassis to move.
As it strolls down the roads, the words "assalamualaikum" (peace be with you), followed by "A delivery is here. Get well soon." can be heard from its speaker.
While it’s a far cry from the robots in Japan and elsewhere, used to help frontliners and Covid-19 patients, the creators of the Delta robot have been praised for their innovation.
In early July, Indonesia overtook Brazil and India as the epicenter of Covid-19 in the world.
And recently, experts believe that the outbreak has begun to reach the archipelago’s outer islands.
On Saturday, President Joko Widodo released a statement saying that infections were on the rise outside Java and Bali.
The current situation is a huge concern for Indonesians as most of the facilities on the outer island are ill-equipped to battle Covid-19 and the rampaging Delta variant.
Additionally, vaccination rates in the far-flung provinces have lagged behind due to lack of supply, logistical challenges, and vaccine hesitancy over the Chinese-made shots, which the government has heavily procured.
Tags: #Covid19, #Indonesia, #homemaderobot, #selfisolation