It is called Mitra (friend in Hindi) and it is a robot that allows patients , hospitalized for the coronavirus , to talk with their loved ones who, precisely because of Covid19, cannot visit them. At “work” in a hospital near New Delhi , Mitra wanders around the wards and, thanks also to facial recognition, manages to be almost a true friend to the sick.
But the work of this android does not stop there: Mitra is in fact also used for remote medical consultations, thus reducing the risk of contracting the infection. The robot was developed by Bengaluru-based start-up Invento Robotics, and cost the hospital 1 million rupees (about 11,500 euros), according to Yatharth Tyagi, the director of the company that runs the hospital.