Low Cost Sensor Based Hand Washing Solution for COVID-19 Prevention

One of the most effective solutions in the preventive endeavors for infectious diseases such as the COVID-19 pandemic is the application of frequent hand washing. In developing countries, there are several low cost touch-free hand washing solutions involving the use of foot operated mechanisms. However, the use of embedded processors in the design of automatic electronic systems to provide convenience and smarter solutions has in recent times gained unique attention globally. In this paper, we employed an Arduino based microcontroller as processor and ultrasonic based distance sensors to implement a touch-free hand washing mechanism. The microcontroller processes received sensor signals and sends desired command signals to operate two DC motors. A DC pump and servo motor are used to facilitate simple yet effective dispensation of water and soap respectively without any physical contact with the user. The simulation of the developed system was performed with Proteus. The system is also experimentally verified to meet the desired design requirements.