Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Danish disinfection robots use UV light to kill viruses and bacteria

Now that China has taken control of the spread of the new coronavirus, it is in the process of carefully cleaning hospitals that are increasingly empty of COVID-19 patients. Robots seek to play an important role in this routine task of eliminating the virus in corridors, waiting rooms, and many other spaces.

With the aim of disinfecting its hospitals, trains, and subways this time, the Chinese government has ordered hundreds of robots from the Danish company UVD Robots. Equipped with a UV light, these machines, capable of disinfecting a room in 15 minutes, will equip more than 2,000 Chinese hospitals.

The UV-Disinfection Robot can move autonomously on the premises where you place it, where UV rays destroy all pathogens, bacteria, and viruses in a few minutes.

How the Disinfection Robot works?
How the Disinfection Robot works?

The disinfection robot consists of a mobile base equipped with multiple lidar sensors and an array of UV lamps mounted on top. The robot relies on simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) to navigate, and it operates completely on its own. It’ll travel from its charging station and can navigate hallways and rooms, as well as navigate floors with the assistance of an elevator.

Before start disinfecting some space, the robot will ask people to leave the room, close the door and start disinfection, since the UV light emitted can be dangerous to humans. The system promises to eliminate any virus or microorganism without human intervention, both on surfaces and in the air, before returning to its charging station. Of course, robots run on batteries that take up to six hours to fully charge.

The UV-Disinfection Robot operates only when people are not around. It is able to detect the presence of humans using its sensors, which detect motion, and shut the UV lights off if a person enters the area.

The robot requires between 10 and 15 minutes to disinfect a typical room. Its UV array emits 20 joules per square meter per second (at a 1-meter distance) of 254-nanometer light, which will utterly wreck 99.99% of germs in just a few minutes. In this way, the robot can effectively limit the spread of coronaviruses without exposing hospital staff to the risk of infection.

UVD Robots started selling these systems last year, which is present in more than 40 countries and is now focused on meeting the demand for equipment requested by China for hospitals and medical centers. The price of one such killer droid is between the US $80,000 and $90,000, which are relatively affordable for medical equipment.