Gradually, the nation is witnessing the resumption of economic activities as the lockdown has begun to ease and consequently, it becomes imperative for all organisations to adopt certain preventive measures to avoid the risk of COVID contamination among the workforce and visitors. To provide an ‘all in one' solution, Mumbai based PropAssist Global Solutions Private Limited has come up with a ‘Sanitization Tunnel’ with mobile app alert which can be effectively used in hotels, airports, markets, courts, corporate offices etc.

Speaking to the Machine Maker, B Surendranath, Founder of PropAssist Global Solutions shared, “India is still far behind in progress towards controlling the spread of the virus and until we discover an effective vaccine, sanitising solutions and low-cost testing centres will help as an initial step, though it’s a never-ending battle as every year the virus can mutate into a new form. The idea about the Tunnel came up after watching several armature efforts to sanitise people during the Corona breakout and after researching in this direction we concocted the prototype of the following.”

Features of the Tunnel

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is among one of the most utilised technologies for offering smart automated services and one can easily rely upon its proficiency without thinking twice. Based on AI, PropAssist's user-friendly tunnel is a multi-tasking device with an award-winning global design which strives to fulfil every safety measures to be taken to avoid contamination. Outfitted with an IR Camera eyeball scanner, it can read an individual’s temperature with maximum accuracy in a contactless manner and it sprays a perfumed sanitising solution moving 360 degrees, as per the WHO standard, which additionally makes one smell good. It has an inbuilt face/card reader along with Wi-Fi for auto-marking the visitors/employee attendance and has an inside coating of Anti-microbial ACP sheet.

The tunnel is an ideal solution to monitor visitors in buildings/societies, including servants, vendors, delivery boys etc and it even possesses the capacity to sanitize large parcels

It is built in a way, that when an individual is about to enter, it can read the temperature by scanning his eyeballs from a distance of over 20 feet using AI-based technology. On capturing the image of a person with fever, the tunnel would not only sound a loud alarm but will also store thermal images of the person and further send the same via the internet to the mobile of any security personnel. Individuals without fever will be permitted to go inside the tunnel for sanitization where it splashes a mildly perfumed proprietary solution, US FDA, endorsed to disinfect the person within 3 seconds. It is made of fire resistance grade materials with an anti-bacterial coating, ensuring no risks to careless smokers. “The tunnel is made with a vision to keep communities safe as it can consistently screen the temperature of every individual dwelling in a building/society. If any of them is found with fever then the person will be immediately instructed to visit one of our PropAssist Testing Kiosks/booths that is coming up on every street in Mumbai,” says Surendranath.

Behind the Development

There is a growing concern among several authorities across India about the use of sanitization tunnels as these use strong and harmful chemicals to disinfect an individual which may prompt severe health hazards. However, keeping all the eventual outcomes in mind, PropAssist remarkably designed the prototype with ensuring every possible safety. Discussing, Surendranath elaborated that the tunnel is made using metals that are auto-cleanable. He refers that special care has been taken to soften the water that will be used to dilute the anti-infectant and remove impurities that can clog the plumbing, special self-cleaning piping with anti-fungal features are used. Apart from this, they have used motion sensors and heat-sensing thermopiles to automate the process and make the entire tunnel contactless.

The visitor management software helps to register the visitors who walk into the tunnel and even visitor statistics are maintained for a further record

Marketing Progress

It has been quite challenging to an ideal objective because of the obstructions created by the lockdown. Being vocal about this Surendranath says, “Getting regulatory approvals is the biggest hurdle as people simply do not respond to emails since offices are shut due to COVID outbreak”. But overcoming all the impediments, they prototyped the first set of machines which are working extremely well and they successfully passed through phase one of development and hence comes the second and most vital phase of making it available to the masses. Till now, the company has already received orders through their online website for over 120 machines within two weeks of opening the bookings for the tunnel, and currently, are in the process of expanding their manufacturing capacity to cater to the market needs. “We are in talks with some large investors, private equity funds, CSR funding agencies and international health agencies to finance this effort.” As of now, the market price for the following product ranges between 1.5 to 2.5 lakh rupees which can hopefully come down with commercial production and automation of the process.

Other Innovations

Apart from the sanitization tunnel, PropAssist team is taking a shot at an innovative sanitising fluid that is organic with no harmful chemicals. According to Surendranath, lab tests so far have proven its 99.99% efficiency in eliminating all pathogens and their magic water will help avoid spraying dangerous chemicals on children, pets and so forth. He claims to bring revolution in the way we sanitize our worlds. Their mobile, portable test centres are coming up nationwide, focussed to help those who are sick to quickly get a pathology test done within an hour using advanced US FDA approved/ CE IVD testing machines and kits at very affordable prices. They are consulting several government agencies to give them sites like street corners, post offices, police stations, etc for installing their tunnel and testing labs.

Based in Mumbai, PropAssist Global Solutions Pvt Ltd is a supplier of sanitising products to government agencies including the Railways, Air force, PSU etc. It also makes supporting software to complement the sanitising products that they deliver. 

For more details contact: www.propassistglobal.com