iHub Anubhuti-IIITD Foundation (Technology Innovation Hub of IIIT-Delhi) and iHub Foundation for Cobotics (IHFC, Technology Innovation Hub of IIT Delhi) have inaugurated their joint medical facility, ‘MCC-Medical Cobotics Centre’ on the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Delhi campus, as per the press statement.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, has funded this joint facility to be operated by iHub Anubhuti and IHFC under the NMICPS mission, officials said.
The Medical Cobotics Centre is aiming to become at being India’s art technology-enabled medical simulation and training facility for doctors, paramedics, technicians, engineers, biomedical researchers and entrepreneurs. The Centre is also equipped to offer hands-on simulation training to the medical fraternity across the country, as outlined in the press release.
The training programmes, ranging from basics to advanced, will be designed in consultation with leading doctors and experts, mainly drawn from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), it said.
The centre is also aiming to have technologies that will enable advanced medical research and development in the areas of healthcare robotics and digital healthcare.
The Centre will also act as a test bed for many young start-ups in the medical field that are developing innovations in medical technology in digital medical healthcare and healthcare using AR/VR, AI, cobotics, robotoics, cognitive sciences and such.
“This inauguration marks a unique convergence of engineers and doctors, symbolising the deep collaboration within this MCC and the importance of simulation in testing various medical technologies. In general, most people believe that doctors have unlimited abilities. However, it is important to understand that doctors are also humans who rely on technology to deliver effective treatments,” Dr. Akhilesh Gupta, secretary, SERB, senior advisor, DST, GOI, said.
The MCC launched its first Call for Proposal for young start-ups, with funding up to Rs one crore available in digital healthcare and medical healthcare using the above application areas, mentioned the press release.
“This initiative promises to usher a new era of medical innovations and technology advancements in the areas of Assistive Technology, Medical Simulation, Digital Health, Cobotics, and Cognitive Computing & Social Sensing,” Dr. Ekta Kapoor, scientist F at Govt. of India, head, frontier, Futuristic Technologies Division, head, National GLP Compliance Monitoring, said.