Five class X students— Nirvani Jain, Arshia Jaitli, Suhani Sharma, Gurnoor Kaur, and Mansi Aggarwal—of Faridabad’s Shiv Nadar School, have created a self-sanitising bench called SAFE, which is touted to conquer the spread of transmissible diseases such as COVID-19, viral conjunctivitis, influenza, and hepatitis A.
As per a report in indiatimes.com, the bench has been fitted with a UV sterilising light and a QR code. The ultrasonic sensors get activated once the person gets off the bench, and the bench initiates an automatic UV light-propelled sanitisation process.
The QR code gives out details of the time and date of the last sanitisation process. The bench was made under the Capstone Project, and was exhibited at the school’s annual tech event, Colloquium 2020.
“A prototype has already been installed and is waiting to be tested at a large scale. The students are looking forward to reactions from their peers and working towards a Version 2.0,” IT Head and mentor, Mark Nelson, told Indiatimes.com.
Jain told the portal that as the pandemic restricted outdoor activities and there was an increased awareness in sanitising surfaces, they wanted to create a product that would ensure safety outdoors. “Collectively, we felt a sanitising bench was the best contribution for helping people using public spaces across hospitals, parks, malls, and other outdoor areas. Currently, we are using ultrasonic sensors to detect the human presence to rotate the bench automatically as our app is under development,” adds Aggarwal.
Kaur told the portal, “Our motive was to make something for people who venture out to feel safe if they needed to sit and relax. We wanted to do our bit in helping ease the fear of people of contracting COVID-19 while being outdoors. We completed the project in 10 months by coordinating over Zoom and Google Meets, and going to school in turns.”
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