Covid-19: Disinfection Robots Are Being Deployed

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Covid-19: Disinfection Robots Are Being Deployed

    Robots using different technologies are being deployed on the frontline in the fight against Covid-19. Among these 

robots, disinfection robots are of particular interest. A 

division of Siemens has produced one such robot in just a week.

    Models using hydrogen peroxide vapor (HPV) and ultraviolet (UV) light are moving through hospitals, health centers, 

government buildings, and public centers across the globe in a bid to disinfect surfaces. The use of automated 

air disinfection machines not only reduces human 

exposure to the virus but is also proving to be more rigorous and effective in decontaminating spaces. Some of the 

robots incorporate bulbs that emit concentrated ultraviolet-C (UVC) light.

    Danish company UVD Robots is manufacturing robots that are able to disinfect patients and operating rooms in 

hospitals thanks to powerful short-wavelength UVC lights that emit enough energy to eradicate the DNA or RNA of any 

microorganisms that are exposed to them. US-based Xenex also counts on UVC light to annihilate the virus on 

“high touch” hard surfaces, such as bed rails, trays and call buttons. Melinda Hart, media relations director 

at Xenex, explained that the radiation damages the structure of genetic material and prevents particles from 

making more copies of themselves:

[blockquote]
    
        “UV light has been used in this area for a long time and there are dozens of technologies out there that use 

mercury bulbs to emit a continuous stream of UV light. What makes our LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots so different is that 

they use a pulsing Xenon lamp not a mercury bulb.This emits intense flashes of germicidal light, which are able to 

deactivate a pathogen very quickly so it can’t reproduce and mutate.”
    
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    The LightStrike robots, which are now being used in Europe, Asia, and the US, can disinfect a hospital room in 20 

minutes and have been proven to reduce the spread of bacterium and bugs such as MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus 

aureus) and C. diff (Clostridium difficile). 

[blockquote]
    
        “Covid-19 is not yet available in a commercial lab for testing but we have tested against Middle Eastern 

Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and other surrogate viruses. Our robots were able to deactivate those quickly, so we are quite 

confident that they are destroying Covid-19.”
    
[/blockquote]

    An Intelligent Solution

    At Siemens Corporate Technology China, the Advanced Manufacturing Automation (AMA), which has a focus on special 

and industrial robots, unmanned vehicles and intelligent equipment for robotic applications, also moved quickly to help 

tackle the spread of the virus. The laboratory produced an intelligent disinfectant robot in just one week, explained 

Yu Qi, head of its research group. Its model, which is powered by a lithium battery, distributes a mist to neutralize 

Covid-19 and can disinfect 20,000 to 36,000 square meters in one hour.

    For Yu Qi,  many disinfection machines available on 

the market combine a petrol-driven mistorizer gun with an electric chassis. However, on-site refueling is neither 

clean nor convenient, so the team decided to develop purely electric robots.

[blockquote]
    
        “An omni-directional camera platform on the top transmits videos and information in real time, enabling the 

operator to remotely locate affected areas and control the sterilizing. Considering the multi-scene adaptation, the 

disinfectant robot project designed a caterpillar chassis which has the ability of 35-degree slope climbing and 160mm-

height-of-obstacle crossing. It means the robot can be widely used in hospitals, bus stations, metro stations, 

manufacturing factories and canteens etc.”
    
[/blockquote]

    Disinfecting PPE

    Melinda Hart, from Xenex, explained robots are now also being used in pods to disinfect mobile and high-touch 

complex equipment, such as ventilators and scanners. Equipment can be wheeled in and the LightStrike will be effective 

on anything within the pod.

    “Our robots and pods are being used to disinfect masks where there are shortages of personal protective equipment 

(PPE). They can disinfect hundreds of masks in one day, which can make a real difference.”

    YOUR HOME IS now your workplace, playground, meditation studio, dine-in restaurant, neighborhood 

bar, refuge, and movie theater. The point being, you're spending a lot of time in it. You may as well prevent the 

air inside from making you sick. Indoor air is dirty. Particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, and vaporous 

chemicals seep in through our ventilation systems and the weatherstripping around windows. Indoor plastics, furniture, 

paint, and also flooring off-gas noxious fumes. An air sterilizer 

won't do much good if you're not vacuuming regularly and changing the filters in your home's HVAC 

system, but if you live where there's a lot of pollution or wildfires, it could help a lot.

    Whether it is the eradication of biofilm or treating wounds in locations not conducive to sharp debridement, ultrasonic 

debridement can be a key tool for promoting improved wound healing.The surgical debridement of nonviable tissue is 

essential in the wound care process. While sharp debridement with or without pulse lavage is the most common method, the 

use of an ultrasonic wound debridement machine

is a more recent option that one should consider. Physicians originally developed ultrasonic debridement for 

dentistry in the 1950s and later adapted it for debulking soft tissue and dissecting bone.

    Forget about the hassle of ice packs, cold therapy machine

s are the easiest, most effective way to apply for continuous relief from joint pain and swelling and inflammation. 

Whether you’re recovering from surgery, recovering from a workout, or simply seeking relief from a painful medical 

condition, a cold therapy machine can help speed your recovery and ease the pain.

    Studies in the early 1970s suggested that wrapped sterilization 

trays remained sterile for varying periods depending on the type of material used to wrap the trays. Microorganisms 

were found to penetrate single-wrap muslin as early as three days, and double-wrap muslin and single-wrap two-way crepe 

paper in 21 to 28 days when stored on open shelves. Based on these studies, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of 

Hospitals (now Joint Commission of Healthcare Organizations) required that hospitals provide an expiration date on wrapped 

surgical trays, indicating a time when the trays would no longer be considered sterile. In a 1984 article, Mayworm 

criticized the scientific basis for dating sterile surgical trays. He noted that "time doesn't contaminate 

products, events do." He then listed the following factors, which contribute to the contamination of product: 

bioburden (contamination in the environment), air movement, traffic, location, temperature, humidity, and the barrier 

properties of the wrap material. He stressed that when the proper wrap materials along with appropriate sterilization 

techniques were used, surgical trays should remain sterile unless damaged. Subsequent studies demonstrated that the sterile 

integrity of surgical packs was maintained for at least one year and no trend was found toward increased probability of 

contamination over time. In this latter study, no differences were observed among the wrapping materials studied (i.e., 

two-ply reusable, nonbarrier wovens, both new and previously used; disposable, barrier nonwovens; and paper/plastic peel 

pouches). These studies were conducted under ideal circumstances. Sterility may be more difficult to maintain under actual 

use conditions where movement and storage conditions may damage wrap materials.