UPES students leverage technology to make a difference

UPES School of Engineering and School of Computer Science students used their entrepreneurial and technological skills to help people cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and save lives

Started in Wuhan, China, and now has got the entire world on its toes, coronavirus is being heard of everywhere. The times are difficult for people, industries, healthcare professionals, and the nation at large. 

At a time when social distancing has forced individuals to stay within the premises of their house, mobile applications have come to the rescue. People have been using smartphones and mobile apps for some time now; however, the usage of mobile apps has grown considerably during the lockdown period. People are relying on mobile applications for banking, food, groceries, vegetables, medicines, and an array of other items. Before the pandemic, the use of mobile apps was an option for many, now it has become a necessity.

Taking a cue from the increasing reliance on mobile apps, UPES School of Computer Science students – Ankit Vats, Apoorv Dubey, Aviral Shukla, and Naman Jain –  developed ‘Together’, a COVID-19 resource management mobile application. The application consists of various sections that collate informative data from cloud storage. This data is updated regularly. The application consists of links in the form of buttons to directly access the social media platforms and websites related to available help resources. 

Ankit Vats from the development team says, “We are aware of the current scenario in our country, and it is heart-breaking for all of us. I live in Delhi and, the conditions are even worse here. From the beginning, we had an entrepreneurial spirit within us. We had this idea in our mind and, this was the perfect time to put it into action. We took two days to develop this application, and it is a big achievement for us. I hope this app continues to benefit those in need and save lives.”

“The collection of verified information was a big challenge for us. We called every individual on the available contact list and ensured that we put up only verified leads on the application. At times, the person would confirm the required asset but then deny it later. So, keeping up with the verified data was a little difficult for all of us,” adds Naman Jain.

Another innovation came from UPES School of Engineering alumni Sarthak Garg, Sunil Choudhary, and Sachin Kumar. They developed a website named We Care to provide essential health services to the people to fight the novel coronavirus outbreak. The team comprised Devankan Pathak, Tannu Priya, and Prajjwal Jaiswal, along with 30 members from all over India and various NGOs from Delhi and Dehradun.

The website aims at proactively reaching out to and informing the users of the risks, best practices, and relevant advisories about the containment of COVID-19. The main objective of the website is to connect people who need essential health resources such as ambulance services, plasma and blood donors, vacant hospital beds, oxygen cylinders, medicines, and packaged food.

Sarthak Garg says, “We came up with the idea of creating a one-stop platform that could help people stay up-to-date with the local citizen-sourced Covid-related information. Those in need can access real-time information on the availability and quantity of resources. We realized that this website could benefit afflicted people and act as a medium to connect with the right people at the right time who need the resources. Our team prioritized on putting important information that allows visitors to get real-time data. We used API (Application Programming Interface) and Django dashboard for the backend to develop the website. We are also planning to develop a mobile app for the same.”

A final year student from UPES School of Computer Science, Tannu Priya, says “Juggling between online classes and assignments, we began the development of website on April 25. The website has two major verticals: Get Covid Resources and Add Covid Resources. In Get Covid Resources, vertical people who need covid resources can connect with people who can provide the necessary resources in their area. On the other hand, in the Add Covid Resources vertical, people who have any such resources (medicines or oxygen cylinder) listed on the website can give their details to create a large pool of information.”