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“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ ” ― Martin Luther King Jr.

We believe that a business cannot be successful when the society around them suffers. The current pandemic around the globe is revealing the gaps in healthcare systems and a need for everyone to join hands to do their best with their time and resources.

A voluntary team of 13 engineers from Lam Research India along with 5 local doctors handling COVID-19 patients collaborated to outline key problems that an engineering team can help address. India has a population of approx. 1.3 Billion and the need to ramp up testing to limit the spread of COVID-19 in hotspots while keeping the healthcare professional and the public safe during testing was strongly felt. This team stepped up to address this medical challenge by designing and building Suraksha Kiosk, an innovative sample collection kiosk. ‘Suraksha’ in several Indian languages means safe or protection.  

The team used following approach and techniques during the entire project: –

  • 8D methodology and Pugh Matrix to evaluate various solution space.
  • Systems Engineering approach for a smooth design and integration
  • PDR process for a Phased implementation

SURAKSHA KIOSK’s design is inspired by: –

1. Semiconductor’s Vacuum Transfer Module (to enable 3X or higher Throughput/Productivity)

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2. Semiconductor’s Vacuum Transfer Module (to enable 3X or higher Throughput/Productivity)

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3. Semiconductor’s Chemical delivery systems (to sequentially deliver disinfectant/station)

4. Reversed – Hypoxia Glovebox (to ensure the safe sample collection)

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5. Positive pressure Airborne Infection Isolation Room-AIIR (to eliminate the need for full-body PPE)

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Since this Sample collection booth is Positively pressured it protects the health care providers from any known deadly or contagious Airborne diseases like COVID-19, SARS, MERS, Ebola to name a few and any future biological threats to the healthcare providers.

One of the main objectives of this design was to ensure that the construction materials are easily available in any market from a Small Town to a Metropolitan and keep the cost less than 1,50,000 INR ($2000). This team believes in the merits of shared knowledge and hence the design is OPEN-SOURCE and PUBLISHED on this website for the entire world. This exponentially increases the proliferation of this booth in all the places where it’s needed the most. Also, it is intended to spark and enable further innovation in this design, making it more useful. 

Unique design features

The entire design, procurement (during lockdown! 😊) and build was completed within one month. Some of the key design features of the Suraksha Kiosk are listed below: –

  • 3X Throughput due to a 3-sided interface at 40% of the cost of 3 separate kiosks.
  • PLC/Micro-controller based Automated Sanitization system to spray disinfectant (1% Sodium hypochlorite) independently on each Station, covering Gloves & all the peripherals. This eliminates the risk of viral spread to the helper currently tasked to sanitize the setup manually after every sample collection.
  • Air Inlet and Outlet is filtered using a 0.3micron (equivalent to NIOSH N100) HEPA filter for complete protection
  • A Pressure Switch constantly monitors the Cabin pressure and Alarms if the pressure drops below 15Pa Differential pressure
  • Achieve superior ergonomics by using long Gloves for extended reach & higher Degree of Freedom.
  • Communication system to interact with the subject and guide them for the procedure.
Station1 – Subject1                             Station2 – Subject2                           Station3 – Subject3

Inauguration

The first kiosk was inaugurated on 28th May at Victoria Hospital by Dr. K Sudhakar, Minister of Medical Education, Govt. of Karnataka. After having watched the demo, the minister thanked the team for its innovative approach, initiative, and efforts. Realizing the benefits of the kiosk, the Dept. of Medical Education has requested to install a few more Suraksha Kiosks in several Hot Zones. Lam Research India’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm has come forward to fund these kiosks as part of its community engagement activity.

Engineers

Lead Systems Engineer

Ashish Saurabh

Positive pressure Ventilation

Vinayakaraddy Gulabal

Sanitization system

Spoorthi Subramanya

Automation PLC
Micro-controller

Sanath Kumar
Rakesh Chandrashekar

Frame Design

Nivin Vikraman
Anvesh Gangadharan

Glove Port & Tray Design

Nitin Kadam
Piyush Kumar

Communication System

Program manager

Clifton Pinhero


Clifton provided program management support , ensured a smooth operation & a rigorous drive towards deadlines .He also supported with his strong networking .

Technical Owner

Vijay Kumar Badam


Provided mentorship to the team and help them navigate through challenges.

Leadership , Medical Advisers & Partners

Leadership and Mentor

Vikas Chand
Sr. Director Product Management,

“It was delight being part of this team of volunteers that reached out medical professionals and subject matter experts to gather problem statements and then delivering creative engineering solutions that has potential to make a large impact in our fight against COVID-19“

Chief Adviser and Design verification

Dr Arjun Bhugra
MD (Microbiology)

“Impact – This kiosk will revolutionize the way we collect samples as the increase in the number of sample collection will lead to more tests in a day hence increasing the detection of disease”

“Earlier we used to conduct this test one person at a time in a separate room wearing PPE but due to advent of this kiosk we will be able to increase the number of tests which we can do in a day and also make the healthcare worker comfortable”

Advisory panel

Dr. Nikita Bhugra
MD (Anaesthesia)
Assistant Professor of Anaesthesia

“Impact – It helped saving a lot of resources like PPE kits gloves and N95 masks, which are already in acute shortage at our institute. Also it made it comfortable for the health care provider as they are in a safe zone, and have almost no contact with the infected patient.”

“In the past the COVID-19 sampling was done by residents of ENT after wearing PPE kits, gloves, masks and face shields and by manually taking a swab of the patient’s oral and nasal cavity, thereby exposing themselves to direct contact with the infected patient”

Dr Karthik M Chavannavar
MS (General surgery)

“Impact – The self sanitization process and the beep alert for low pressures inside the kiosk are a great ideas to have been incorporated into the project ,as they help both sanitary workers and the doctors who are collecting the samples for hours together”

“Testing inside the kiosk with a PPE kit on for 6-8 hours is a very challenging task as there is very less air circulation inside the box”

Dr Himanshu Bhugra 
MS (Orthopedics)
Assistant Professor of Orthopedics

“Impact – It has upgraded the safety standards for the health care worker with significant cost reduction in the long run.”

“Testing in the past was conducted in an uncontrolled environment with health care worker in PPE and at risk of exposure”

End-User of the Kiosk at Victoria Hospital, Bangalore

Dr. Shrinidhi B Joshi
General surgery resident BMCRI

“Impact – This Kiosk has 3 desks. So at the same time 3 persons swab can be taken under good preventive measures. Other advantage is that it has self sustaining way of disinfection. Reduces man power also the chance of exposure”

“Previously cases were called inside OPD , a room was kept for taking swab. Where the sister or a doctor taking swab was exposed directly unless he has PPE”

Assembly Partners

Thanks to our Assembly partner enabling a speedy production and increased proliferation.
Symbiotic Automation Systems (P) Ltd
4th Phase, 310 & 311, 4, 8th Cross Rd, Peenya, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560058
080 4132 1600