NIBONG TEBAL: With only RM1,500, a group of researchers from School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (PPKEE) of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) have managed to build an automatic sanitising tunnel.
Dean Professor Ir Dr Mohd Fadzil Ain said the group decided to build the sanitizing tunnel prototype after they received a request for such equipment from the university’s medical centre.
Mohd Fadzil, who led the project, said the prototype built was completed with sonar (sound navigation ranging) detection, as it will detect any object movement that passes through it.
“Since our faculty is equipped with electronic expertise, we have successfully built a prototype, even with lack of resources and materials. Even so, this tunnel is complete with an IoT-based temperature scanner, soap dispenser, water tap sink and no-contact dryer.
“We believed this tunnel is workable to kill virus or any sort of bacteria for our frontliners to use at the end of their shift before going home,” he said in a statement today.
At the moment, the prototype is placed at USM Health Centre.
However, Mohd Fadzil felt the tunnel was suitable to be placed at other locations, especially in high risk zones like hospitals, health centres, police stations and universities that were expecting student enrollments as soon as the Movement Control Order (MCO) ends.
“This smart-operated tunnel is also suitable to decontaminate patients coming for their treatments at clinics and hospitals. It could help the frontliners save their time and energy especially when dealing with a large number of people.
“With only RM1,500, it can be built on a larger production scale in a short time, as we can purchase most materials from any local hardware store,” he said.
The group of researchers received personal funding from the project leader and the university’s Division of Industry and Community (BJIM USM).
Among the researchers involved in the tunnel project were Associate Professor Dr Muhammad Nasiruddin Mahyuddin, Dr Wan Amir Fuad Wajdi Othman, Suardi Kaharuddin, Shahidan Shafies and Mohd Hisham Mamat Yusuf.
