To fight COVID-19 and minimize its spread, many Indian startups have come up with their solution. And among such startups is IIT Kanpur incubated startup, Nocca Robotics.

The startup has developed an ICU-grade ventilator customised for handling coronavirus patients.

And as per company Co-Founder, their ventilator is quite inexpensive, about one-tenth of the price, when compared to a high-end imported ventilator.

IIT Kanpur and Nocca Robotics have started testing the ventilators. And the company expects it to be available either by the end of May or first week of June.

Talking about the manufacturing and cost of the ventilator, Amitabha Bandyopadhyaya (IIT Kanpur incubation centre in-charge and Nocca Robotics Co-Founder) said,

“IIT Kanpur and Nocca Robotics have signed an agreement with defence public sector company Bharat Dynamics for manufacturing the ventilators on a not-for-profit basis for India initially which is expected to be available for about ₹1.5 lakh per unit.”

Amitabha Bandyopadhyaya added, “From May 12, the testing will start in two Pune hospitals. These ventilators will also go through UL and TUV testings. This is critical medical equipment. Therefore testing and strong standards are of paramount importance. We expect it to be available either by end of May or first week of June. We expect to reach 10,000 units production by the end of July.” 

Nocca Robotics co-founder Nikhil Kurele said the company has developed this ventilator keeping safety and security of health workers as their top-most priority.

As per Nikhil Kurele,

“We found that when a virus-infected patient on a ventilator breathes out, he exhales air filled with virus loads. This exhaled air fills the ICU with coronavirus which is hazardous for health workers. In our ventilator, we have made ultraviolet filter chambers, which kill viruses, and placed filters thereafter to free the exhaled air from viruses.”