COVID 19 Projects, Innovations and Solutions From Nepal — Part 1

12 min readMay 24, 2020

Nepal, which has entered the 60th day of its nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of deadly coronavirus, is among the nations that have the least number of cases of the deadly COVID-19 with no deaths.

But, In Nepal, we have our own sets of challenges, Being a developing country, we don’t have enough healthcare infrastructures, we doubt that we could do the Coronavirus PCR [Polymerase Chain Reaction]test in people-to-people as quickly as other nations like Korea. Another reason for our reported cases being low is also because of not having enough testing kits available throughout the nation. Besides that, we have post-COVID 19 economic threats, as we see that our migrant workers, and daily wage workers not having an income, they are unable to feed their families.

If we turn on our media, we would have enough reasons to be pessimistic and scared about Nepal. But amidst the challenges, We see that Nepal amidst all challenges has united to tackle the problem created by this virus outbreak. Steps have been taken down by Government, private agencies, NGO’S, INGOs, health workers, scientists, researchers, academicians, front line workers, and so on. we can see that people of all diversities have united and are pushing themselves to tackle the problems in their community.

A Lockdown Full of Innovations

COVID-19 may be having a devastating impact on our industries, social lives, and personal growth areas, but it is also prompting an outpouring of creativity in different fields. We can see lots of local solutions, from making of masks to ventilators on the local level, PPE’s Distributed to affected communities, Sanitization kits being locally available, and many other examples.

A couple of days ago, we interviewed some Local innovators and Makers who are working in various ways to solve the problems created by COVID 19.

Let’s start the Interview.

Bikash Gurung, President, Robotics Association of Nepal

Q. What is Robotics Association of Nepal, RAN?

Robotics Association of Nepal is actively working in the field of Robotics, New Technologies, and knowledge transfer in Nepal. A Not for Profit Community Driven Organization, it also has its chapters across the Nation and is bringing the robotics community together in one Network. It Organizes community events in partnering with all the stakeholders of Nepal. It organizes Education Classes, Robotics Memberships, Organizes International Competition, and Promotes the Robotics industry in Nepal.

What are the Covid19 Projects RAN has been Part of?

Drone Rapid Response COVID 19 Nepal: Using the drone to monitor people’s movements in the critical locations to see if they are following the rules or not. By crowdsourcing a community of drone pilots and drone owners, It has already started at a very small level at Birgunj Municipality, Due to the open India-Nepal Border side, the flow of people and the regulation of lockdown has been difficult in checking out manually. Thus the Drone surveillance has been in Handy. Link — Call for Drone Rapid Response team

Awareness during COVID19- To deal with the false information spread, the Robotics Association of Nepal, RAN, did a social media campaign on False Information. 8 team members were assigned the task to lead this action. Teams will focus on bringing new tech ideas and solutions in this situation of Panic and Unrest. As part of our commitment, the RAN awareness team planned to work on Fake News and Real News in Nepal. RAN with more than 20 members committed has created a Facebook page Fake News in Nepal and True News of Nepal.More info — Fake News in Nepal

SISTER v.01- (A Food and Medicine Carrier Robot) V1.0, with the help of this robot we can easily carry food and medicine along with other necessary stuff up to the patient who is in an isolation room and quarantine room. The first Robot is Deployed in a Hospital in Hetauda district, Province 3. It was handed to the chief minister in province 3, Dormani Poudel, and is being used there. More information — Sister v1.o video

Safety Booth developed by Chapter association in the country. RAN Far-West — RAN Farwest team built a safety booth adapting the concept of Korea. Robotics Association of Nepal Farwest has invented the first locally made safety booth within 3 days in collaboration with the Kaicho Group and National Innovation Center and distributed it to Seti Regional Hospital, Dhangadhi District, free of cost in April 7, 2020.

The booth consists of an exhaust fan to ensure the supply of oxygen to the health worker, a night light to ensure testing can be done in night time too, a magnet glass cleaner, an audio system to communicate with the patients and a hanger to hang the thermal gun. This both is expected to reduce the use of PPE while at the same time ensure the safety of health workers by eliminating direct contact with the patients.

It was the first safety booth in the far-west during the time when COVID was severe. The team is now working on an automatic sanitization tool. Link — RAN Farwest

Sushant Dahal, Founder Mutex Tech Pvt. Ltd.

Nepal fights Corona Health Group. Started a group with other like-minded individuals to bring people from different backgrounds to work together to help people deal with COVID 19 problems. Nepal Fights Corona Help Group has done the following tasks so far:

Helped provide medicines in unreachable places,
Helped provide food to needy ones from marginalized communities under the leadership of Aanand Mishra, Charimaya Tamang, Radha Paudel, Ranju Darshana, Prem Bahadur Bohora, Max Dipesh Khatri, Diwash Lal Pradhan, Sabin Adhikari, etc.
Provided PPE kits to medical institutions throughout the country for free,
Suicide victim support: Under the leadership of Ranju Darshana, a suicide victim was rescued and supported and now she has been placed in an initiative named Kosis under the guidance of the Ministry of Women, Children, and Senior Citizens.
Pregnancy Support Initiative: Under the leadership of Prashansa Budha Lama(a registered midwife), we have helped in supporting 150+ pregnant women during this lockdown. We have a hotline number for pregnant women so that they can call the registered midwives directly for free providing nutritious food, vehicle management, medicine, free delivery for women who don’t have money, etc. via this initiative. link — Nepal Fights Corona Group

Ventilator making project: Few innovators like Ramchandra Thapa, Sushant Dahal, Gunjan Ghimire, Anil Singh, had a meeting with the chief advisor to the Ministry of Health and got permission to start research and build a Ventilator. Sushant, along with Kapalik Khanal from DroNepal formed a team and kickstarted the project. The second version of the ventilator is ready. The 3rd version of the ventilator is being developed, it has not been handed over yet due to the unavailability of resources like — Digital Pressure Sensors, flow sensors, and some electronic equipment.

Ram Chandra Thapa, Mechanical Engineer | Founder, Zener Technologies

3d Printing Startup — Zener Technologies — Started back in 2016, right after the earthquake, Zener Technologies is the pioneer Company in 3D Printing in Nepal. It’s a one-stop solution to everything related to 3D Printing.

It Sells 3D printers, Filaments and Raw materials used during 3D Printing.
It is also working on knowledge Transfer BY Starting Digital Fabrication courses in Partnering with Engineering colleges and local universities of Kathmandu.
It works in 3D Modelling, 3D Designs
It has been promoting unique Nepali design.Art and Craft sector using 3D printing to make a masterpiece of the art and craft.

Protect Nepal for COVID 19 -A Project Started by Zener Technologies Nepal, a 3D Printing startup, Having Previously worked in Disaster response project of using 3d printers to design necessary Health equipment, Ram and his Team started designing quality standard protective gear to protect our frontline workers working for COVID-19. So far, Their team has been successful in making 3D printing face shields. 800+ a day and have distributed 8000+ face shields already.

Protect Nepa is now a community of makers and soon to be made as an organization. Link to video explaining the project

Uttam Pudasaini, founder, Naksha :

Also, Founder, Nepal Flying Labs :

Use of drones in disaster management and the medical sector. It started in Nepal and expanded to 15+ nations. The use of drone in a post-disaster scenario works with Drone Nepal, a linkage platform to connect opportunities to drone companies.

Projects for COVID 19

Hamro Swasthya app — 4 days after the lockdown team in Naksha developed a telehealth mobile application for the Ministry of Health and Population, Government of Nepal to provide reliable information on important health to Nepali citizens. At this time of COVID-19 global pandemic, this app is dedicated to COVID-19 control and awareness, but the overall target of the application is to cover all health-related issues in the coming days. The 2nd phase of the app is in progress. The next version will come in the English language. Right now. WHO has become a partner to it.
Nepal Innovation Mapper: Mapping all the innovators from the country. Centralized platform owner by the Ministry of Science and Technology. It will be a log of innovators and innovation from the country. Nepal Academy of Science and Technology is onboarded as a partner.
Drone usage for Urban Planning — Usage of Drone for Urban Planning and Disaster Management mapping in the dense areas of Nepal and KTM. During Lockdown, the Team pitched the idea to the Mayor of Lalitpur, and after permission, they began the Mapping Project. ChanguNarayan Municipality is the first area to do drone detailed mapping and it will be soon done in other municipalities.
E-Governance: A National e-construction authority works to provide information on safe construction practices, All the government digital services in one single dedicated portal. The Project is in the planning phase with the government.
Collaboration Between Public-Private Partnership Possibilities: There is a possibility of a collaboration between the government agencies itself and then with a collaboration between government and private agencies. For example, — there is a need to set a standard for how the private agencies are collecting the data and once the criteria are met the private sectors can join the platform.
Ministry of Science and Technology Committee: A Technology and Innovation Department of the Ministry has formed a committee, which is led by Bikash Gurung, President of Robotics Association of Nepal, RAN. The Government is putting up an innovation fund to fund the innovation on COVID 19.

Darpan Pudasaini, Founder, Engineering Adda Nepal,

An RnD platform, an innovation space working in building projects, tackling local problems. Engineering Adda is a brilliant technology and innovation hub working for bringing innovation and technological change in Nepal.

Also Founder Dronepal :

Dronepal is one of the earliest drone companies which is using drones to solve problems in Nepal. Using drones as a Frontier technology to solve problems in Nepal from Health and Human-Wildlife conservation. It works in Following Domain.

Drone and Service Program.
Drone as a technology. Research and Dev around drones that can help to solve different challenges. Drones for Medical Delivery.
Drone School. Making drones from scratch and using drones in the survey sector. Building programs in Drone, GIS.

COVID19 Response Projects

Ventilator Design Using MIT low-cost Ventilator Open Source,
Smart Sanitary KITS development — Research team Came up with organic material that can kill viruses and now in a research phase to kits.
ENFORM: Partnering with Technorio, a tech startup, and helping schools and colleges taking the classes online, running the management works, and processing the admission forms.
Nepal Meets Online: It’s a platform like a zoom. A platform for regular video calls in Nepalese Schools.
Podcast: Guff Cast — A Podcast from Nepal

Aman from Impact Week/ Lufthansa

Aman Bhattarai is a Senior Analytics Consultant at Lufthansa Group who loves Aviation and Design Thinking

Impact week — Nepal Vs COVID 19

NEPALVSCOVID19 is a Virtual Design Thinking Challenge organized by Impact Week in collaboration with King’s College in Kathmandu, Nepal. The 60-hour design challenge is a unique opportunity for young minds to tackle a pressing challenge using Design Thinking and user-centric design tool kits while being coached by international design & innovation experts.

18 Lufthansa group professionals and design thinking experts. Experts who were the design thinking team from Stanford IDEO. With King’s College in Nepal.
Slowly it’s catching up in the global scene with Kenya also following the model and Lagos Government wanting to do Nigeria Vs COVID19 similarly Mexico and few countries also wanted to adopt the format of Nepal vs COVID 19.

Anil Singh from Team SISTER v.01- (A Food and Medicine Carrier Robot) V1.0, with the help of this robot we can easily carry food and medicine along with other necessary stuff up to the patient who is in an isolation room and quarantine room.

Food and medicine carrying robots.
User-friendly easy Robot.
Handed to Hetauda Hospital.
Commercializing the robots right now building 6 other robots for the hospital
An added feature of automated sanitizer. For different situations, features will be added.
Set a camera in the robot and add it to the computer to control it easily.