From Solar Panels to Ventilators: Nokka Robotics' Journey During the Pandemic

Till the beginning of 2020, Nokka Robotics had nothing to do with hospitals. This startup company of IIT Kanpur used to make robots that cleaned solar panels without using water. This technology was developed keeping in mind the needs of the rapidly growing solar energy sector in India. Due to the increasing number of critical patients in hospitals, there was a shortage of ventilators in India. In view of this problem, Nikhil Kurele and Harshit Rathore decided to make ventilators out of their old work, while they had not worked in this field before. Within just 90 days, they built a high-end ICU ventilator, which was used in hospitals across the country. How the journey started Nikhil Kurele's journey started from Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh. He described himself as a normal student but his grasp of maths was very good. He scored a brilliant 96% in mathematics in class 10. His parents sent Nikhil Kurele to engineering college in Kota to prepare for engineering entrance exams.