‘UV-Astra’- a device to sanitize surfaces: COVID-19

In the wake of coronavirus, the fear of contracting it from touching anything around has grown up to the ninth sky. Everyone seems to act as if sufferers of OCD- cleaning and wiping the doors, handle, switches, etc. repeatedly. Now all these things will soon be a part of the past because IIT-Guwahati’s 2 students have built a device that can be used to disinfect objects.

Shubham Yennawar and Anant Mittal are the two genius minds who made this creation possible. The two civil engineering students claim that the nano Ultra-Violet (UV) device i.e. the UV Astra is capable of sterilizing any surface as well as kill the bacteria and viruses just within 3 seconds.  

Anant Mittal who runs a tech startup named Racerfly and one of the 2 creators has applied for a patent for the device. He told a news agency that “UV-Astra will prove to be the best affordable personal protection weapon against the virus.” He also mentioned that it can also disinfect the already used Personal Protection Equipment or PPE.

He further explained the device. The Ultra Violet rays are said to possess the properties to disinfect. The device they have created uses a very low power UV light that would cause no harm. The device is claimed to be handy because of its pocket-sized shape which measures about 3cm long and weighs less than ten grams. The Astra can be powered by mobile phones and it holds a sterilization rate of 99.9%. The users can enjoy the device’s service life of five thousand hours. 

Yennawar and Mittal took several weeks to come up with the module of the device. Anant mentioned about how they came up with the name UV Astra. He said that ‘Astra’ is a hind word which is defined as a weapon to kill or attack the enemy and as the device would be used to fight against the bacteria and viruses, the name ‘UV Astra’ justifies it. 

To make UV sterilization affordable and handy for everyone was the challenge the two IIT students took. After numerous trials, they came up with this device which appears as a mere pen drive that has a hard metal case with an intention to protect the module. 

Anant Mittal expressed his feelings of confidence about the device by saying that “UV Astra is set to be the new normal. It is an all-time protection device. Now no one needs to worry about touching surfaces when he or she steps out of homes.”

A drone was developed by Anant’s Racerfly team that has an automatic sprayer embedded on it and that possesses the ability to sanitize large areas like footpaths and parks just within fifteen minutes.

The director of the institute, Mr. T G Sitharam says tat the IIT-G community including the students, faculty, alumni, and staff are working tirelessly for the development of innovative solutions that can be used to prevent the spread of coronavirus. his quoted statement was “The institute is continuously pushing limits and thriving hard to serve the nation by developing innovative and affordable products to fight COVID-19, in line with PM Narendra Modi’s vision too make the country Aatmanirbar.”

The young genius minds proved their capability to achieve excellence. Now the nation is looking forward to the device to be successful and bless the students for their amazing contribution to the nation….