Robots in medical applications
Helpers in the fight against the Coronavirus
Whether for surface disinfection in hospitals or the distribution of clinical material in quarantine zones without human contact: robots are now playing an important role in medical applications. They have also proven to be very helpful in the fight against the Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2.
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, for example, demand for the disinfection robot UVD from the Danish manufacturer Blue Ocean Robotics has risen sharply: Chinese hospitals have ordered more than 2000 UVD robots. They were used in Wuhan, the probable source of the pandemic, and are currently used in more than 40 countries - in Asia, Europe and North America. For killing harmful pathogens they use ultraviolet light (UV-C). Recently the UVD robot has received the IERA Award, an innovation prize jointly awarded by the IEEE and the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).
"With our robots, we are helping to solve one of the biggest problems of our time: containing the spread of viruses and bacteria and thus saving lives," explains Claus Risager, CEO of Blue Ocean Robotics. "The demand for the UVD has increased dramatically with the outbreak of Covid-19 infections. Our existing customers are buying significantly more equipment than before the crisis, but many new customers are also ordering the UVD robots to combat Coronaviruses and other harmful microorganisms". After all, Blue Ocean Robotics has recorded annual sales growth of more than 400 percent in the last two years.
The UVD travels autonomously through operating theatres and patient rooms, irradiating all critical surfaces with the optimum amount of UV-C light to kill viruses and bacteria. The more intensively the robot irradiates a surface, the more harmful microorganisms are destroyed. 99.99 percent of all viruses and bacteria in a typical patient room are killed within 10 minutes.
- Helpers in the fight against the Coronavirus
- Also for airports, schools or offices
