Researchers from Lovely Professional University, Punjab announced that they have developed 20Sec4Life, an IoT device to time hand washing, that will glow, beep and play a musical tone for 20 to ensure people disinfect their hands properly. It can be mounted on any liquid soap dispenser to ensure the user washes their hands properly as per the WHO guidelines for COVID 19. The splash proof device operates via battery and has been developed to combat the growing cases of COVID 19, which in many cases spreads due to negligence in observing the 20 seconds hand wash rule.
The base device is triggered and starts playing music for 20+ seconds when the nozzle of the handwash is pressed to dispense soap. The advanced version of the device can be connected via Wi-Fi network and can be paired and operated through a Mobile App.
The research team has developed the device prototypes which are available in four variants – 20Sec Musico, a basic model that plays a pre-fed musical tone; 20Sec Glowy, glows for 20+ seconds; 20Sec Beeper, beeps in beginning and would beep after 20 seconds and 20Sec Guardian, an advanced model that offers step by step hand-washing instructions like rub palms, rub fingers on palms etc. in vernacular languages ensuring proper cleaning. The expected selling price of the base model post commercialisation is expected to be INR 70 per unit.
The team behind 20Sec4Life includes Prabin Kumar Das, a B Tech student (Electronics Communication and Engineering) at Lovely Professional University (LPU) along with Dr. Lovi Raj Gupta, Executive Dean of Science and Technology, Dr. Rajesh Singh, Professor, School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Dr. Anita Gehlot, Associate Professor, School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Mandeep Singh and Gaurav Bhandari.
“COVID 19 is spreading rapidly and one of the reasons for this is improper hygiene habits. For most people, it is difficult to keep a track of time while washing hands. We all are in a hurry and do not realise that we have failed to completely disinfect ourselves by not washing our hands for the prescribed duration of 20 seconds. Therefore, we have come up with a simple solution in the form of “20Sec4Life” which will enable humanity to abide by the prescribed timelines for washing hands,” says Prabin Kumar Das.
