ABB Robotics and the University of Texas Medical Branch’s (UTMB) Life Sciences and Healthcare Lab have developed an automated neutralizing antibody testing system. The robotic system can determine an individual’s immunity to various strains of COVID, and perform other virus testing. 

The system is able to increase the number of neutralizing antibody tests performed from 15 a day to over 1,000 daily. 

“The ability to carry out more daily tests is the key to generating more data on individual immunity profiles that will help control the further spread of the virus,” Dr. Michael Laposata, professor and chairman of the department of Pathology at UTMB, said. “By transforming the rate at which testing can be carried out and eliminating the need for large numbers of laboratory staff being exposed to the potential risk of infection in manual testing, the automated system we’ve developed with ABB provides an accurate, fast, flexible and safe way of meeting our goals.”

Increasing the number of daily tests can help UTMB researchers better understand how effective COVID vaccines have been. COVID’s many combined mutations have made it challenging for researchers to determine the most effective protection for each variant. 

The system aims to detect a SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody without cross-reaction with other infections. The resulting data can be used by the person being tested researchers, and local policymakers to help them make more informed decisions about how to minimize the risk of further spreading the virus. 

“This project is a clear example of how robotics can increase speed and efficiency, while making work safer for the researchers involved,” Daniel Navarro, Managing Director of Consumer Segments and Service Robotics at ABB, said. “Working closely with UTMB, we are combining our expertise [in] biology, lab process, automation and software to develop and deploy an automated robotic solution that significantly advances and informs our response to the COVID pandemic.”

ABB used its RobotStudio offline programming software to model, iterate and test different combinations of lab equipment and robot positions to develop the system. The entire process, from inception to operation, took just 18 months. 

“What we managed to achieve in this project within such a short space of time is extraordinary—many multimillion-dollar companies take several years to create solutions like the one we’ve developed in a fraction of the time,” Juan Garcia, director of Laboratory Services at UTMB, said.

Robotics Summit & Expo (May 10-11) returns to Boston

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In the summer of 2020, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) entrusted the ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Institute with finding robotic solutions to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic and create a technical foundation to respond to future similar crises. The ARM Institute engaged with its 300+ member consortium to solicit project ideas, ultimately initiating 9 projects through a Special ARM Institute Project Call with funding provided by the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

The projects focused on several critical areas, including facility and surface disinfection, COVID-19 testing, the production and quality assurance procedures for personal protective equipment (PPE) production, and the use of robots in building temporary structures that can support hospital efforts.

“We are honored to have been entrusted with COVID-19 mitigation by the Department of Defense,” stated Ira Moskowitz, ARM Institute CEO, “The quick execution of these projects and the successful results demonstrate the ARM Institute’s ability to rapidly respond to national needs by leveraging our diverse ecosystem of experts.”

“We are thankful to our project teams who were instrumental in our effort to support the Department of Defense,” noted Cara Mazzarini, ARM Institute Technology Portfolio Manager, “After seeing such positive initial results, we are confident that the technology will continue to be refined and implemented in ways that will improve how our nation responds to future crises.”

Below are details about each of the 9 projects. The ARM Institute recently hosted a virtual summit exploring these projects. You can access the event on-demand here. The ARM Institute said you might need to enable cookies to view the event recording.

Rapid PPE production through automation & robotics

Impact: The outputs from this project reduced the number of human operators needed and increased efficiency, reduced cycle time, increased production throughput, improved robustness via vision-based fault detection and vision guided robotic operation and use of an Edge AI based module as a service to reduce upfront cost of buying equipment.

Description: The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed critical vulnerabilities in the global health care supply chain. At the beginning of the pandemic, U.S manufactures were unable to meet the significant demand for Personal Protective Equipment, resulting in shortfalls and long lead times. This project improves existing automated mask production in the US by including robotic automatic visual inspection, picking-and-sorting, and end-of-line packing and palletizing.

Project Team: Siemens Corporation Corporate Technologies (Principal Investigator), Henderson Sewing Machine Company, Yaskawa Motoman, HomTex

Built-by-Bot: customized mask assembly using robots

Impact: This project enables custom robotic mask production anytime, anywhere. It also increased the use of automation in an industry that continue to relay primarily on manual labor

Description: The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has identified cloth masks as playing a vital role in slowing the spread of COVID-19, but the supply has not been able to keep up with the demand. Robotic sewing presents a technical challenge because it requires the manipulation of flexible materials, fine motor control, and precise part recognition. This project will build upon the outputs from other ARM projects to automate the robotic production of cloth face masks for personal protective equipment (PPE).

Project Team: Siemens Corporation Corporate Technologies (Principal Investigator), Henderson Sewing Machine Corporation, Sewbo Inc, Bluewater Defense, Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center (ISAIC)

Swarm robotics for large structure manufacturing

Impact: Pvilion believes that this technology will help them better respond to DoD needs and manufacture the tents domestically. The robots also relieve the strain on human workers.

Description: COVID-19 has highlighted the urgent need to rapidly deploy negative pressure spaces. These air supported structures are rapidly deployable with performance advantages over traditional tents, and are ideal for use as expeditionary hospitals, quarantine facilities, housing, and other disaster relief or military applications. Production of these structures is labor-intensive but can be expedited with the development of robotic technology to aid manufacturing personnel with moving and manipulating heavy, flexible materials.

This project aims to solve the problem of moving and manipulating a large, heavy, flexible material over a large area by developing a fleet of self-aware, human-directed robotic platforms to take on the hard work of moving the material around the production floor. This manufacturing technology will help team member Pvilion produce a “hospital in a shipping container” that can be set up in a parking lot with a crew of 8-10 and a forklift in only 72 hours. ASATI will be able to reduce cost and manufacturing lead times of these critical structures through the implementation of this development.

Project Team: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Principal Investigator) and Pvilion

Automation of Characterization and Evaluation (ACE) in PPE manufacturing

Impact: This project created technology that enables the rapid expansion of a USA industrial base in the category of AAMI tested medical PPE. The project also resulted in the ability to perform three separate quality assurance tests in-house by integrating robotics and automation into the quality assurance processes for PPE manufactured in the US. This will help to addresses supply chain variability issues.

The technology could also be used for fluid penetration tests, flammability tests, liquid barrier tests. It also has applications in laboratory automation, medical device manufacturing, biopharmaceutical, and furniture and garment manufacturing.

Description: The quality assurance procedures for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), such as facemasks, is labor intensive and time consuming. Sample testing of PPE has become a priority not only in manufacturing plants but also at medical centers. The national labs providing validation testing for PPE are reporting lead times up to 75 days due to lack of qualified technicians and overwhelming volume of new requests. This project aimed to develop a robotic system to automate the quality assurance tests for PPE inspection, thus improving the performance, productivity, and efficiency of PPE manufacturing in the United States.

Project Team: Northeastern University (Principal Investigator), Merrow Manufacturing, and Boston Engineering.

Robotic application of anti-microbial copper coatings

Impact: The project resulted in a production ready semi-automated Robotic cold spray to provide self-disinfecting high touch items. The set-up is ready to be used “as a tested” system (VRC Metal Systems spray, NX CAM Robotics, Sinumeric Controler, Comau Robot with RunMyRobot.). The set-up is also easily customizable. The project also advanced the technology closet to an easy-to-use stand-alone system for the scanning and spraying of miscellaneous parts.

The robotic application of cold spray also has many other applications in repair, additive manufacturing, and more. The system could be adapted to mobile robots for scanning and coating of fixed assets, large objects.

Description: Copper-coated surfaces rapidly kill coronaviruses like COVID-19, but these have not been widely manufactured due to low demand. However, the pandemic has highlighted the need for self-disinfecting surfaces. Robotic cold spraying of copper will enable rapid production to meet the new demand. Wide adoption of copper-coated surfaces will reduce the spread of COVID-19 without the need for frequent cleaning. The robotic application of copper coating will improve the manufacturability of these parts. This project developed a robotic anti-microbial copper application system (cold spray), integrating a scanner and developing an automated path generation and QA tools to apply the copper coating to components like a doorknob, hospital bench, cart, handrail, etc.

Project Team: Siemens Corporation Corporate Technologies (Principal Investigator), VRC Metals System

Rapid Robotic Diagnostic Kit Discovery (R2D2)

Impact: This system accelerates test strip development by 2-3x, improves process quality and reliability, and reduces the number of technicians needed. The technology can be extended to any LFA based test kit development process, is easily scalable, and helps to respond rapidly to outbreaks like COVID-19.

Description: While many tests for COVID-19 have been developed, the U.S still has not reached the scale necessary for effective management and control. COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests have long turnaround times (2-3 days for lab results). Rapid development of COVID-19 Lateral Flow Assay (LFA) tests would dramatically aid the United States’ efforts towards large-scale testing for current and future pandemics. LFA test strip evaluation requires at least two technicians – one to run the assay and one to interpret results using analyzers that image and quantify individual strips. This project developed a solution utilizing advanced vision systems and flexible robots to accelerate LFA test development by automating LFA test-strip evaluation.

Project Team: Siemens Corporation Corporate Technologies (Principal Investigator), Maxim BioMedical Inc, and Siemens Healthineers

Autonomous robotic spraying and disinfection in warehouses & shipyards

Impact: This application reduced system setup time and effort through the autonomous collection of a map, an intuitive operator user-interface for general users, and a portable operation interface that is accessible from any browser.

The system also ensured a safe and healthy working environment with minimal impact on operations through automated disinfecting routines using autonomous navigation and robust visual perception, the use of a scalable platform to augment disinfection capabilities of human janitorial staff, and consistent and precise spraying of known high-touch surfaces to reduce transmission of pathogens.

The system also developed reusable and scalable technology modules by leveraging both open-source and commercially-available software and the demonstration of a relationship to, and coexistence with, other commercial products.

Project Description: Logistics and support operations have played a vital role in supporting the nation by supplying medical supplies and essential goods to millions of Americans. To control the spread of COVID-19 in these facilities, more frequent and reliable disinfection is required. This project developed an autonomous warehouse disinfection system that can automatically navigate, locate, and disinfect heavily touched surfaces and potentially contaminated areas. This process minimizes the human role in potentially harmful disinfecting procedures while reducing costs.

Project Team: Siemens Corporation Corporate Technologies (Principal Investigator) FedEx Corporation, Yaskawa Motoman

Mobile Autonomous Industrial Disinfector (MAID)

Impact: The commercially deployed solution is projected to cost less than $100K.

Return-on-investment is projected to take between several weeks to four months, depending on environment size/ complexity and retreatment frequency.

Disinfecting 10,000 ft2 is expected to take just eight hours based on: prototype operating speeds of 2.15 ft2/sec, the 6ft diameter effective UV-C tower, moderate number of areas requiring secondary disinfection/region, using one treatment per region, and handling large spaces with multiple robots.

Description: Due to the rapid transmutability of COVID-19, frequent surface disinfection is required for businesses and workspaces to operate safely. The current method of manual cleaning is not ideal because it puts another person into the space who could get sick or transmit the virus. This project developed an autonomous mobile robot with a mounted collaborative multi-axis robotic arm capable of manipulating both a disinfection system and a sensor suite. The system identifies areas that need disinfecting, execute the disinfecting process, and keep records of the cleaning tasks completed.

Project Team: Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories, GrayMatter Robotics, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Lockheed Martin Rotary Mission Systems

Human-Assisted Autonomous Mobile Capability for Multi-Room Disinfecting Robot (HAAMSDR)

Impact: The system saw a 27.2% reduction in human work when using the same number of systems as baseline, limiting human exposure to infection.

When using the same amount of human involvement as the baseline, the system resulted in a 19.3% increase in the area disinfected and a 28% improvement in human utilization.

Description: Schools, offices, military bases, and manufacturing floors need to be disinfected between shifts to minimize the spread of COVID-19. The Decon–X (DX1) disinfecting system has proven its effectiveness in Europe, but currently lacks the mobility and autonomy to disinfect spaces without an operator. An automated solution is required to ensure workers return to a COVID-free environment each day. This project added mobile autonomous capabilities to the DX1 room disinfection system to automate the consecutive treatment of multiple rooms and spaces within workplaces. The addition of mobility and autonomous navigation to the DX1 enables the robot to move from room to room and perform a series of treatments with little to no human intervention.

Project Team: QinetiQ North America (Principal Investigator), MassRobotics

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The Whiz Gambit AMR combines floor cleaning and disinfection capabilities into a single unit. | Image credit: Softbank

The world is learning to live with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in response to that, comes new and improved facility cleaning and disinfection best practices. The Whiz Gambit autonomous mobile robot (AMR) is a 2-in-1 AI-powered cleaning and disinfection robot, jointly launched by SoftBank Robotics Group (SBRG) and Avalon SteriTech (Avalon). The device is now available across the EMEA region following its launch in Asia Pacific in March, 2021.

At the heart of the machine is the Whiz by SBRG. Whiz is an autonomous vacuum designed to work alongside commercial cleaning teams. Whiz automates the vacuuming of large areas of flooring. Whiz has already found success in the commercial facility cleaning market as a stand alone unit.

Whiz Gambit is a combination of two separate technologies. | Image credit: Softbank

Gambit is a bio-decontamination spray system developed by Avalon. The Gambit unit has been designed specifically to bolt on to Whiz and leverage Whiz’s autonomous operation to disinfect a commercial space while the Whiz is completing a nightly floor cleaning workflow. The Gambit unit is not designed to function separately from the Whiz Gambit machine.

The combined unit has been certified by SGS, a leading testing, inspection and certification company. The 2-in-1 disinfection and vacuum cleaning technology of the Whiz Gambit is unique in the market at this time. Whiz and Gambit are available through key distributors throughout EMEA.

Stefano Bensi, General Manager at SoftBank Robotics EMEA, said: “We’re seeing a real surge in demand for Whiz amongst FM providers and cleaning contractors across the whole region as people return to their workspaces. Clients are facing huge pressure to deliver improved cleaning performance, comfort and consistency and Whiz has a big part to play in this. For those clients wishing to take this focus on hygiene even further, there is now a cobotic solution for decontaminant spraying.”

Lewis Ho, Chief Executive Officer of Avalon SteriTech said: “While the risks COVID-19 poses continue to evolve, returning to the commercial space can be protected by strong and scientific cleaning and disinfection practices. After the successful launch of Whiz Gambit in APAC, we are proud to expand our footprint in international markets alongside SoftBank Robotics, who share our mission to safeguard people’s health through smart cleaning and bio-decontamination. Preventing the spread of virus, Whiz Gambit will help businesses to thrive through current challenges, setting the stage for successful comebacks.”

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Instead of the in-person ROSCon, the event is being moved online – ROS World 2021 will take place October 20-21.

The COVID-19 crisis is particularly grim in Louisiana. According to ABC News, Louisiana currently has the nation’s highest case rate, and hospitalization levels, more than 3,000 at last count, are stretching the health system to a breaking point. Other large in-person events have recently been cancelled in the state.

You can read the full announcement from Open Robotics below or visit this ROS Discourse thread for more information.

During difficult times it is always good to remain optimistic; therefore in January, on the heels of multiple announcements about effective COVID-19 vaccines, we decided to move forward with plans to return to an in person ROSCon in 2021. Our plans included contingencies to scale up or scale down ROSCon based on the public health situation; as we were fairly confident that in-person gatherings could be done safely.

If you have suggestions or general questions please let us know in the comments. If you have a specific issue addressed please e-mail us at roscon-2021-ec@openrobotics.org.

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The Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute, a Department of Defense Manufacturing Innovation Institute, opened registration for the ARM Exchange Technical Summit: Robotic Solutions for Pandemics & Beyond. This event is free to attend and open to the public. You can register here if interested.

The ARM Institute is the nation’s leading collaborative in robotics and workforce innovation, working at the confluence of industry, government, and academia. Structured as a public-private partnership, the ARM Institute and its member organizations accelerate robotic technologies and education solutions to strengthen the U.S. industrial base and secure U.S. manufacturing resiliency.

The Institute is delighted to welcome Mr. Rob Gold, Director, Technology and Manufacturing Industrial Base, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Research and Engineering, as our keynote speaker.

This virtual summit will highlight the impact, success stories, lessons learned, and outputs from nine pandemic-focused technology projects. These projects were funded by the Office of the Secretary of Defense through a Special ARM Institute Project Call to mitigate the current COVID-19 pandemic and prepare the nation for future pandemics and similar crises. Throughout the event, attendees will learn more about robotic and artificial intelligence projects that address disinfection, diagnosis, and personal protective equipment (PPE) assembly. Attendees will have the opportunity to view demonstrations and connect with the project teams and other attendees.

The virtual event will begin at 10:00 AM ET and conclude at 3:00 PM ET on August 30, 2021. A detailed agenda can be found below.

10 AM – Welcome
Ira Moskowitz, ARM Institute CEO

10:10 AM – Impact of the Projects for the Department of Defense
Rob Gold, Director, Technology and Manufacturing Industrial Base, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Research and Engineering

10:30 AM – Metrics & Impacts: How the ARM Institute Measures Success
Cara Mazzarini, ARM Institute Tech Portfolio Manager and Adam Norton, UMass Lowell, ARM Institute Metrics & Evaluation Working Group Lead

10:55 AM – Project Summaries Introduction: Mitigating COVID & Preparation for Future Pandemics

11 AM – Autonomous Robotic Spraying and Disinfection in Warehouses & Shipyards
Logistics and support operations have played a vital role in supporting the nation by supplying medical supplies and essential goods to millions of Americans. To control the spread of COVID-19 in these facilities, more frequent and reliable disinfection is required. This project developed an autonomous warehouse disinfection system that can automatically navigate, locate, and disinfect heavily touched surfaces and potentially contaminated areas. This process minimizes the human role in potentially harmful disinfecting procedures while reducing costs.

11:15 AM – Mobile Autonomous Industrial Disinfector (MAID)
This project developed an autonomous mobile robot with a mounted collaborative multi-axis robotic arm capable of manipulating both a disinfection system and a sensor suite. The system will identify areas that need disinfecting, execute the disinfecting process, and keep records of the cleaning tasks completed.

11:30 AM – Autonomous Mobile Capability for Multi-Room Disinfecting Robot
The Decon–X (DX1) disinfecting system has proven its effectiveness in Europe, but until this project lacked the mobility and autonomy to disinfect spaces without an operator. This project added mobile autonomous capabilities to the DX1 room disinfection system to automate the consecutive treatment of multiple rooms and spaces within workplaces. The addition of mobility and autonomous navigation to the DX1 will enable the robot to move from room to room and perform a series of treatments with little to no human intervention.

11:45 AM – Robotic Application of Anti-Microbial Copper Coatings
Copper-coated surfaces rapidly kill coronaviruses like COVID-19, but these have not been widely manufactured due to low demand. Robotic cold spraying of copper will enable rapid production to meet the new demand. Wide adoption of copper-coated surfaces will reduce the spread of COVID-19 without the need for frequent cleaning. The robotic application of copper coating will improve the manufacturability of these parts. This project will develop a robotic anti-microbial copper application system (cold spray), integrating a scanner and developing an automated path generation and QA tools to apply the copper coating to components like a doorknob, hospital bench, cart, handrail, etc.

12:20 PM – Rapid Robotic Diagnostic Kit Discovery
While many tests for COVID-19 have been developed, the U.S still has not reached the scale necessary for effective management and control. COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests have long turnaround times (2-3 days for lab results). Rapid development of COVID-19 Lateral Flow Assay (LFA) tests would dramatically aid the United States’ efforts towards large-scale testing for current and future pandemics. LFA test strip evaluation requires at least two technicians – one to run the assay and one to interpret results using analyzers that image and quantify individual strips. This project developed a solution utilizing advanced vision systems and flexible robots to accelerate LFA test development by automating LFA test-strip evaluation.

12:35 PM – Rapid PPE Production through Automation & Robotics
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed critical vulnerabilities in the global health care supply chain. At the beginning of the pandemic, U.S manufactures were unable to meet the significant demand for PPE, resulting in shortfalls and long lead times. This project improved existing automated mask production in the US by including robotic automatic visual inspection, picking-and-sorting, and end-of-line packing and palletizing.

12:50 PM – Built-By-Bot: Customized Mask Assembly using Robots
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has identified cloth masks as playing a vital role in slowing the spread of COVID-19, but the supply has not been able to keep up with the demand. Robotic sewing presents a technical challenge because it requires the manipulation of flexible materials, fine motor control, and precise part recognition. This project built upon the outputs from other ARM projects to automate the robotic production of cloth face masks for PPE.

1:05 PM – Swarm Robotics for Large Structure Manufacturing

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has identified cloth masks as playing a vital role in slowing the spread of COVID-19, but the supply has not been able to keep up with the demand. Robotic sewing presents a technical challenge because it requires the manipulation of flexible materials, fine motor control, and precise part recognition. This project built upon the outputs from other ARM projects to automate the robotic production of cloth face masks for PPE.

1:20 PM – Automation of Characterization and Evaluation (ACE) in PPE Manufacturing
The quality assurance procedures for PPE, such as facemasks, is labor intensive and time consuming. Sample testing of PPE has become a priority not only in manufacturing plants but also at medical centers. The national labs providing validation testing for PPE are reporting lead times up to 75 days due to lack of qualified technicians and overwhelming volume of new requests. This project developed a robotic system to automate the quality assurance tests for PPE inspection, thus improving the performance, productivity, and efficiency of PPE manufacturing in the United States.

1:35 PM – Technology Transition Opportunities
Learn how you can leverage the technology developed through these ARM Institute-funded projects.

2-3 PM – Interactive Project Team & Attendee Networking
Connect with our project teams in break-out rooms to ask more questions, join general networking rooms, and connect with ARM Institute staff members.

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The race was on – safely – for more than 50,000 spectators Saturday at the 147th Kentucky Derby in part thanks to Pittsburgh-based AERAS. The company used its patented charged-electrostatic drone technology to sanitize Churchill Downs against COVID-19. This in part helped allow fans to return to the oldest sporting event in the United States.

“It’s awesome having a hand in bringing back massive in-person sporting events after a year of uncertainty,” said Eric Lloyd, CEO and co-founder of AERAS. “Seeing thousands of cheering fans enjoying the Kentucky Derby safely felt like a huge victory over COVID-19.”

The Environmental Protection Agency recognizes that electrostatic spray systems can create effective coverage when applying sanitization solutions. Powered by its AER-Force technology, AERAS drones release a uniform output of small droplets to create a disinfecting barrier along all grounded surfaces.

AERAS recently earned the Federal Aviation Administration’s (EPA) 137 certification to sanitize sports and entertainment sites with its drone technology.

“Like the rest of America, we’re hungry for live concerts and sports,” said Jim Abel, global director of business development. “It feels great to see our technology make this type of impact on live events and to be helping to return America back to normalcy.”

The Kentucky Derby was one of the largest sporting events to be held since COVID-19 shut the world down in March 2020. With 51,838 fans cheering on the run for the roses in person this year, safety was at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

In less than 90 minutes, Churchill Downs seating areas were sanitized by a AERAS’ 107-certified drone operator and AERAS backpack sprayers.

“If sports franchises want to increase the number of people in seats, AERAS is the path,” said Jim Christiana, vice president of marketing and corporate communications for AERAS. “We’re excited for the opportunity to work with any sports and entertainment facility that wants to provide that peace of mind to fans returning to live entertainment.”

Established in Pittsburgh in 2020, AERAS specializes in using a patented charged-electrostatic spraying technology to safely sanitize arenas, stadiums, fields and buildings by dispersing any approved disinfectant as science and best practices dictate to sanitize against COVID-19 and other viral pathogens.

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This automated COVID-19 testing system was developed in less than five months. | Credit: Wilder Systems

A lack of testing has been one of the biggest challenges to combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Testing facilities often have a shortage of personnel to analyze samples and provide results. Throughout 2020, Americans were turned away from testing centers. Rapid testing is becoming vital to mitigating the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Austin, Texas-based Wilder Systems and the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute are hoping collaborative robots can play a role in solving this shortage. They built a robotics system to automate rapid COVID-19 testing, which could enable more people to be tested and receive their results sooner.

The Wilder Dx system uses a saliva-based test, or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol, based on the Yale developed SalivaDirect method. The system contains a 7-axis cobot arm from FANUC, robotic liquid handlers for collection tube plating, PCR testing prep, a RT-qPCR analyzer, a hazardous waste bin, and control software. A technician starts the testing process by putting the sample into a test tube. The robotic system then processes it.

A typical testing lab can run about three cycles a day of 94 samples per an eight-hour shift, or 280 tests per day. This robotics system can run continuously for 24 hours and run up to 2,000 samples per day with the same number of staff and PCR equipment, resulting in a 7x increase. Tests performed with the system in Austin guarantee results to patients within 24 hours.

The system was developed in less than five months. Nearly $600,000 in CARES Act funding was awarded to Wilder Systems and Pittsburgh-based ARM on July 6.

“Robots are clearly being recognized as a highly valuable technology for COVID-19 remediation, be it in sanitation, personal protective equipment (PPE) production, or testing,” said ARM CEO Ira Moskowitz. “The robotic system developed by Wilder Systems, through ARM’s project funding program, is a critical component to helping the United States manage and mitigate the virus.”

Organizations and individuals in the Austin area who are interested in COVID-19 testing can sign-up here.

“The team did a tremendous job in executing the mission to rapidly test for COVID-19 with robotics, and at such a breakneck pace,” said Wilder Systems CEO Will Wilder. “Working alongside ARM was pivotal, and we are thrilled to now be taking our innovations to market both here in Texas and across the country during this important juncture.”

In September 2020, ARM selected nine technical projects to help U.S. industry recover from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Department of Defense, which is providing funding, identified areas of urgency including diagnostics, medical care and countermeasures, non-medical personal protective equipment, and other supplies

COVID-19 has accelerated demand for robotics in supply chain and healthcare applications. Robotics suppliers switched from citing labor shortages to the need for social distancing as a rationale for adopting automation.

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Ava Robotics’ new UV disinfection robot. | Credit: Ava Robotics

Ava Robotics, the iRobot spinout known for its telepresence robots, is expanding its product portfolio with the introduction of an ultraviolet (UV) disinfection robot for corporate offices, warehouses, and other work spaces. The new robot is an evolution of a research project Ava Robotics conducted with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Greater Boston Food Bank.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Ava Robotics said its new robot disinfects both air and surfaces at a rate of approximately 9,000 square feet per hour, with 99% effectiveness against COVID-19. Ava’s robot features fully autonomous operation and navigation, as well as remote access for facilities managers or other users. It automatically emails reports to managers to confirm areas have been disinfected, and it offers a screen and speakers to relay disinfection-related announcements.

The top of Ava’s mobile telepresence robot has been altered with a new screen and UV light array. The robot uses short-wavelength UV light to kill microorganisms and disrupt their DNA in a process called “ultraviolet germicidal irradiation.” UV light has proven to be effective at killing viruses and bacteria.

Disinfection has become one of the more common applications for robotics in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At press time, there are 40-plus disinfection robots available, most of which were developed within the last year.

The video below shows the prototype version of the UV disinfection robot developed by Ava, the Greater Boston Food Bank and MIT.

“With this timely expansion of our technology, we are bringing an intelligent UV disinfection robot with autonomous mobility to a market in great need,” said Youssef Saleh, co-founder and CEO of Ava Robotics. “Businesses must make employees, customers – and really anyone coming into their place of work – feel confident that all that can be done to keep them safe and healthy is being done.”

Ava said its UV disinfection robots will be widely available early on in Q2 2021. Retail Business Services, the services company of leading grocery retail group Ahold Delhaize USA, piloted Ava’s disinfection robots in two of its affiliated distribution centers. Other early customers include Steelcase and Boston City Hall.

“We initially partnered with Ava when they spun out of iRobot with telepresence robots. And now, with new safety expectations, we’re excited to pilot the UV robot in our Boston Worklife space, learning how it might help provide greater peace of mind for our customers and for our employees as they look to return to a safe work environment,” said Gale Moutrey, VP/Brand Innovation and Global Communications at Steelcase.

Ava Robotics spun out of iRobot in late 2016, launching its telepresence robot in 2018. The robot was an evolution of the Ava 500 telepresence robot that iRobot introduced in 2013.

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This third-generation UVD robot can help COVID-19 disinfection. | Credit: UVD Robots

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has dominated 2020, affecting daily lives and every industry around the world. Early in the year, it aggravated a manufacturing slowdown that was the result of both expected economic cycles and trade tensions between China and the U.S.

At the same time, COVID-19 has accelerated demand for robotics in supply chain and healthcare applications. Robotics suppliers switched from citing labor shortages to the need for social distancing as a rationale for adopting automation.

Even as governments grapple with subsequent waves of infection, there are early signs of recovery in some regions and in the automotive sector. While nearly 5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered around the world at the time of writing this article, it’s too soon to say when most businesses, schools, and travel venues will reopen.

In the meantime, here are four ways in which the robotic industry has responded to COVID-19.

COVID-19 Disinfection and cleaning

One of the most obvious applications for robotics in response to the pandemic is to disinfect hospital rooms and other spaces with ultraviolet radiation or chemical sprays. However, both developers and users should be aware of limitations. UV-C light is effective at killing pathogens in the air or on surfaces, but it can be hazardous to humans and degrade certain plastics. Radiation exposure is one reason why it is better to send in an autonomous or semi-autonomous mobile robot into an area to work.

In the Philippines, Robotic Activations apologized after a demonstration of its Keno robot caused eye irritation among as many as 10 observers. Disinfection robots need to detect when humans are nearby and shut down for safety.

Simply putting UV lights on a mobile robot base is not enough to guarantee effective or safe disinfection of COVID-19, noted Claus Risager, co-founder and CEO of Blue Ocean Robotics, which spun out of UVD Robots. UVD recently won a contract to deploy 200 disinfection robots in European hospitals.

“So many people are trying to copy the UVD robots,” he told The Robot Report. “It’s unbelievable how fast that came. There’s more to our product than putting light bulbs on a robot. We’ve done clinical design and long-term testing for all kinds of bacteria, fungi, and viruses, as well as time of exposure, angles, shadowing effects, and reflections.”

It’s also worth noting the companies that were developing UV-C robots before the COVID-19 crisis — UVD Robots and Xenex Disinfection Services — are among the market leaders, despite a host of imitators and research projects. UVD Robots’ system is on its third generation and is available through partners worldwide.

At midyear, new disinfection robots were announced every week. Some came from established mobile robot providers, such as Lavender from Geekplus, the SmartGuardUV from Fetch Robotics, or the LD UVC from Omron and Techmetics Robotics.

Other systems from cleaning robot providers rely on sprays, mists, or a combination of chemicals and UV-C. These include the CIRQ+CLEAN from CIRQ+, Nimbus from Life Sciences Holdings Inc., and the Large Area Autonomous Disinfecting vehicle from Pratt Miller Mobility.

Both types must address the time needed to properly disinfect a certain space, the “shadowing” effect depending on angles and occlusions, and the endurance needed to treat multiple rooms or large areas like an airport lounge. Like UV, some chemical disinfectants pose a risk to people.

“UV robots are scary,” said Faizan Sheikh, co-founder and CEO of Avidbots. “We are paying close attention to safety, and we’re active in the IEC [International Electrotechnical Commission] for safety. Some sprays are safer for humans — sodium- or solvent-based, [and] we need to do analysis of this.”

In addition, some companies, such as Perpetual Motion, are developing drones to disinfect large areas, and Clearpath Robotics is among those working to treat outdoor spaces. Exyn Technologies conducted a study that found aerial drones might not yet be a practical method of disinfection.

“The time and power required to ensure mission completion would not be an efficient solution to sanitize large areas at this time,” said Exyn. “To be an effective solution for large areas, further advancement is needed in the underlying UV-C LED technology so that effective sanitization could be achieved on the order of seconds rather than minutes.”

Stationary systems inside heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) infrastructure are another possible alternative for airborne viruses.

Supply chain automation

Several executives told The Robot Report the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated an existing shift from brick-and-mortar retail to e-commerce, particularly for consumer packaged goods and groceries. Growth expected over the next three to five years occurred over the past six months, they said.

In the first few months of the year, supply chains were strained by the demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks, and they are now gearing up for the distribution of potential vaccines. Hospital supply chains are subject to shifting demands like those in retail.

The need to respond to such demands has led to expectations of growth in robotics for pick-and-place, materials handling, and delivery applications. Vendors of mobile robots, automated storage and retrieval systems, and last-mile delivery vehicles in the air and on the ground have been bullish.

For instance, insightSlice predicts that the global market for delivery drones and robots will grow from $10 billion in 2019 to $38 billion by 2030. In an April survey, Interactions LLC found increasing consumer comfort with robots for healthcare, retail, and delivery.

“Online grocery and general merchandise orders need robotics to keep up with demand, velocity, and quality,” said Steve Hornyak, chief commercial officer at Fabric. “Then, to get products closer to customers and get to the one-day norm that Amazon has driven, you need micro-fulfillment centers rather than big warehouses at the edge of cities.”

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UVD Robots said yesterday that the European Commission has awarded it a contract to supply 200 disinfection robots to hospitals across the European Union. The Odense, Denmark-based company said that its systems are being deployed in more than 10 European countries, with more to follow.

UVD Robots is a unit of “venture factory” Blue Ocean Robotics, which has also developed telepresence systems through GoBe Robots and patient-moving robots with PTR Robots. UVD Robots recently made the third generation of its robot available.

“We are helping fight the spread of COVID-19 while also strengthening prevention against hospital-acquired infections overall,” stated Claus Risager, CEO of Blue Ocean Robotics. “With this order, we are going even further to help protect healthcare staff, patients and relatives at hospitals at a critical moment.”

Disinfection robots proven effective

Blue Ocean said its UV-C robot is clinically proven to kill 99.99% of viruses and bacteria on surfaces and in the air in a patient room within approximately 10 minutes of autonomous operation. The company noted that other pathogens such as staphylococci or E. coli would require exposure enhancement or additional passes.

Numerous disinfection robots have come to market this year, with LG Electronics joining suppliers this week. In addition to its head start, UVD Robots touted its experience with deployments in hospitals around the world.

Sisak’s Dr.Ivo Pedisic General Hospital in Croatia deployed a UVD Robot in its 15 operating theaters. It found no evidence of potentially harmful microorganisms after disinfection, said UVD Robots. In March, the robot was moved to treat COVID-19 departments. Since then, only one staff member has since tested positive for the novel coronavirus, compared with 37 employees in other departments.

At Gruppo Poloclinico Abano in Italy, six doctors had been infected with COVID-19 before a disinfection robot was deployed. No cases of COVID-19 have appeared among doctors, nurses, or patients following deployment of the UVD Robot, said the company. Its robots have now been rolled out to more than 60 countries worldwide.

Blue Ocean technicians review UVD robots for functionality and quality before they are packed. Source: UVD Robots, Business Wire

EC validates UVD Robots

UVD Robots said it was selected by the European Commission directorate-Generale for Communications Networks, Content, and Technology chose. The company said its tender ranked first in the EU Commission’s review of disinfecting robots, which evaluated technical excellence and maturity of technology, quality of approach in deployment, response time in technical support and maintenance, and overall value.

“With EU funds, the European Commission is buying 200 disinfection robots, which will be delivered to hospitals across Europe to help disinfect patient rooms,” stated Ursula Von Der Leyen, president of the European Commission. “We do all we can to support hospitals and patients in these difficult times. And more will follow.”

“We are thrilled that our UVD Robots were selected by the EU Commission, which we believe to be the largest order of service robots of its kind,” said Per Juul Nielsen, CEO of UVD Robots. “We were the first robot in this category and have set the global standard for autonomous UVC disinfection. An order of this size further validates the effectiveness of UVD Robots.”

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A Motional robotaxi operating in Las Vegas. | Credit: Motional

Motional today resumed its robotaxi service in Las Vegas. The service, which is open to the public, has provided 100,000-plus paid rides via Lyft’s ride-sharing network. Like many other autonomous vehicle efforts, Motional’s service was put on hold in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unlike the Waymo One robotaxi service near Phoenix, Motional’s service in Las Vegas isn’t fully driverless at this time. Human safety drivers are behind the wheel of each trip in case they need to take over control. Also, the vehicles are required to be in manual mode in parking lots and hotel pick-up areas.

Motional said it’s taking extra precautions to reduce the risk of passengers being infected by COVID-19. The new protective measures follow CDC, World Health Organization, and government guidelines, and include:

• A partition has been placed between the front and rear seats.
• The safety drivers wear personal protective equipment
• The vehicles are sanitized at the start of each shift, the end of each day, and between rides.

The video below is a demo of the service during CES 2019. While things have certainly changed since then, it still gives a glimpse into what Motional is doing.

“We’ve put extensive measures in place to keep our fleet thoroughly and frequently sanitized, and our passengers safe and healthy,” said Karl Iagnemma, President and CEO, Motional. “We’re thrilled to bring the fleet back, and very proud of its place in history. It’s the longest-standing service of its kind, responsible for introducing self-driving cars to hundreds of thousands of people.”Motional is the re-branded autonomous driving joint venture of Hyundai and Aptiv. Aptiv was formerly known as Delphi. The robotaxi service in Las Vegas launched in 2018. The BMW’s operating in the Las Vegas fleet now carry Motional’s branding.

Motional’s announcement comes two weeks after Waymo resumed its robotaxi service and expanded access to fully driverless rides in the Phoenix area. San Francisco-based Cruise also recently received approval from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to remove safety drivers for its test on specific parts of the city. And Tuesday night, Tesla released the beta version of its “full self-driving” software. Beta users have started uploading videos of their self-driving Teslas, some of which you can find on Reddit. Ford’s Argo AI, which does not offer rides to the public, also restarted testing this week.

Laura Major, the chief technology officer at Motional, recently joined The Robot Report Podcast. We talked to Laura about the challenges of developing and deploying Motional’s technology, including the service in Las Vegas. She also discussed when the safety drivers could potentially be removed and when Motional’s service will be commercially available to fleet operators. Another topic of discussion was why Motional remains committed to robotaxis when other autonomous vehicle companies are putting more emphasis on autonomous trucking and logistics applications. You can listen to the conversation with Laura below, starting at about the 48-minute mark.

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Among the roles for robots and automation as public venues reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic is screening people for symptoms. Digital imaging technology provider Teledyne DALSA yesterday announced the Calibir GXF model, a new addition its Calibir camera line that’s designed to detect elevated skin temperatures.

Waterloo, Ontario-based Teledyne DALSA is a business unit of Teledyne Digital Imaging Inc. and designs, manufactures, and deploys digital imaging components for the machine vision market. The company said that its image sensors, frame grabbers, cameras, software, and vision systems are used in thousands of automated inspection systems around the world. They are used in multiple industries including electronics, automotive, medical, packaging, and general manufacturing.

Teledyne Imaging said its companies leverage one another’s strengths to produce tools, technologies, and vision systems for customers in aerospace scientific research, spectroscopy, radiography and radiotherapy, and geospatial surveying, as well as advanced MEMS and semiconductor solutions.

Calibir GXF is optimized for measurement accuracy and thermal stability in the human temperature detection range. Source: Teledyne DALSA

Calibir GXF intended for screening

In addition to cleaning, delivery, disinfection, and materials handling, robots and drones have been put to work screening people for symptoms of the novel coronavirus. For businesses, schools, and other spaces to reopen, facilities operators, employees, and patrons need assurance of such protective measures.

The GXF camera is based on the Calibir GXM, and is optimized for measurement accuracy and thermal stability in the human temperature detection range. The camera can be delivered with a VGA or QVGA resolution and different lenses to cover a horizontal field of view range from 24 to 70 degrees.

An IEC 80601-2-59-2017 certification of a system, including the new Calibir GXF camera is pending. Like the Calibir GXM models, the new GXF camera is NDAA, Section 889 compliant. Samples are available now.

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Although service robots have taken a long time to come to market, cleaning and disinfection robots are continuing to proliferate during the novel coronavirus pandemic. CIRQ+ this week launched CIRQ+CLEAN, which combines cloud connectivity, the Cbot autonomous robot, and a disinfectant spray. The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company said its “touchless” system could be useful in hotels, schools, apartment buildings, offices, restaurants, and other spaces.

CIRQ+ is a cloud-based platform and modular in-room hub that consolidate wireless charging, alarm clock, Wi-Fi access, Bluetooth audio, temperature controls, and more, according to the company. CIRQ+ added that its unified amenities can be activated by voice controls or a mobile app for touch-free room controls and ease of use. It claimed that its “future-proof” Internet of things (IoT) system can help hotel and commercial property owners reduce energy usage and reduce operating expenses.

“As technologists and innovators at CIRQ+, we were inspired to rise to the challenge posed by the pandemic to leverage our Ultimate Smart Room platform to create viable solutions,” stated Yani Deros, founder and CEO of CIRQ+. “CIRQ+CLEAN was created to ensure that employees, guests, or residents can trust that the property where they are working or staying has implemented the highest standard of health and safety measures.”

CIRQ+CLEAN uses the cloud and spray

CIRQ+ said it rapidly developed its system in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and based on research with properties worldwide.

“Due to the magnitude of the crisis that has devastated business across the country, our team of technologists and innovators developed an MVP solution within six weeks to take on the challenge of a IoT touchless sterilization robot that can be applied to numerous industries,” Deros told The Robot Report.

The CIRQ+ in-room hub can sense whether a room is occupied or vacant. It can then wirelessly dispatch a Cbot to sterilize a space without manual labor, said the company.

The mobile disinfection robot circumnavigates the space and sprays an “all-natural, non-toxic” solution approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for use against Sars-CoV-2, as well as other pathogens on hard, non-porous surfaces, CIRQ+ said. The Cbot consistently dispenses an electrostatically-charged disinfectant to sanitize hard-to-reach areas that manual cleaning or ultraviolet lights might miss, said the company.

“Cbot was developed to be deployed one unit per hotel room, office, or classroom, so our footprint base is compact to navigate into tighter spaces and locations,” said Deros. “Also with the electrostatic sprayer, we can project 5+ feet across surfaces that larger form-factor stations cannot access.”

Once the initial spraying is complete, housekeeping can safely enter the sterilized room to change linens, clean bathrooms, vacuum, and complete routine cleaning practices. Cbot is a robot that protects jobs rather than replacing them, claimed CIRQ+.

After housekeeping is finished, workers inform the hub and leave the room, allowing CIRQ+CLEAN to go through it a second time. The amount of time required to clean a room varies depending on room size, layout, and configuration, Deros explained.

“In our hotel tech lab, we were able to treat an 800+ square-foot room in 3 minutes and 30 seconds repeatedly,” he added. “This included the bathroom.”

CIRQ+CLEAN, including the IoT room hub and Cbot. Source: CIRQ+

Informing and protecting guests

Guests are provided with information on the process. They can receive reassurance that they are entering a thoroughly disinfected room upon entry through a spoken or written message on the screen of the CIRQ+ unit.

How is the IoT data secured? “Cbot is controlled by our cloud-controlled CIRQ+ Hub, which is a patented platform where we have advanced occupancy sensors integrated into our ecosystem,” Deros said. “There are also systematic protocols that will only enable the Cbot under certain control conditions, as the unit will not run when there is any human presence.”

Rather than have robots roaming multiple floors, CIRQ+ plans to deploy one per area, said Deros.

“Due to the seriousness of the pathogens and the complexities of spaces, we are deploying one Cbot per space to minimize package prices,” he said. “When a robot solution needs to navigate through a building or multiple rooms, the complexity and costs escalate exponentially.”

CIRQ+ plans to offer Cbot in mixed installation options including robots as a service (RaaS), depending on the market verticals, Deros said. “Ours also will include IoT plans and the all-natural disinfecting solution,” he said. The goal is to help restore confidence in the travel and hospitality industry.

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The novel coronavirus crisis has led to a sharp increase in interest in disinfection and cleaning robots, with new models being announced weekly. However, only a few organizations can claim to have been working on such robots before the pandemic and have clinically proven, commercial devices available at scale. UVD Robots ApS last week announced the third generation of its UV-C disinfection robot, which it said has a smaller footprint and can report on its activities to human supervisors.

Odense, Denmark-based UVD Robots is a subsidiary of “venture factory” Blue Ocean Robotics ApS, which last month raised close to $20 million in funding and completed its acquisition of the assets of telepresence firm Suitable Technologies Inc. Blue Ocean is also a 2020 RBR50 innovation award winner.

“We have deployed a large number of UVD Robots in countries such as China, Italy, and the U.S. to help them fight the spread of the COVID-19 infection,” stated Claus Risager, CEO of Blue Ocean and chairman of the board of UVD Robots. “Our telepresence robots from GoBe Robots are used to enable humans to physically meet and move around virtually despite closed borders, quarantine, hospitalization, or other restrictions.”

UV-C robots already in use around the world

Unlike many disinfection robot makers, UVD Robots said it has been working on autonomous ultraviolet robots since 2015. The COVID-19 pandemic led to high demand from operators of hospitals, airports, hotels, shopping malls, food and pharmaceuticals companies, cruise ships, office complexes, and more, according to the company.

Blue Ocean originally developed the UV-C robots to to fight hospital acquired infections (HAIs) among patients and healthcare professionals. Millions of patients get HAIs each year, and many of these patients die as a direct result.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has increased interest in automating preventive measures, said the company. Worldwide, there are more than 30,000 hospitals, and studies show that at least 10% of those infected with COVID-19 in one of the U.S., one of the countries hit hardest, are healthcare professionals.

UVD Robots reported that its sales have grown steadily this year. “The largest share of the robots that UVD Robots delivers are to the healthcare sector,” said Per Juul Nielsen, CEO of UVD Robots. “Others are supplied to a very wide range of industries that want to use modern technology to effectively protect guests, students, travelers, and others that stay in potentially contaminated areas.”

“We are also seeing a large order intake from shopping centers, pharmaceuticals and life science, and commercial airports, among others,” he noted, adding that there are 17,000 airports worldwide.

A third-generation UV-C robot in an airport. Source: UVD Robots

Third-generation model based on feedback

UVD Robots added that its distributors are meeting demand more than 60 countries and that its third-generation UV-C robot builds on market feedback. The robot now includes features that were deployed in an early release at many customer sites around the world, said UVD Robots. The company said the new UV-C model demonstrates that the future of autonomous UV robots will be driven more by software and advanced sensors than by hardware alone.

“We have designed the world’s most advanced UV robot, which is also the world’s simplest to use,” said Nielsen. “Anyone can install the robot in a matter of minutes and immediately put it into operation, disinfecting bacteria and viruses from the air and any surface.”

The third-generation UV-C robot is designed to navigate and operate in narrow environments, which opens up new market opportunities, such as the autonomous disinfection of small hotel rooms. Despite the significantly smaller footprint, the new robot boasts exactly the same disinfection strength, said UVD Robots.

“The more agile robots are, the more useful they can be in automating disinfection,” Nielsen said.

“The robot has an unrivaled safety system that uses four layers of safety, enabling the robot to move around in all kinds of environments — even in highly trafficked areas — as it shuts down if people get too close,” said Risager. “It has a unique capability to sense, document, and show the users how well disinfected an area is, enabling the user to easily and quickly adjust the process and optimize the quality if needed.”

“[This is] a feature not found in any other UV-C disinfection robot in the world,” he added. “All of these unique features are patented.”

Third-generation UV-C robot in an operating theater. Source: UVD Robots

Disinfection robots proliferate

The market for disinfection robots has become crowded, with UV light, chemical sprays, and combination devices emerging. Just this month, Aero HygenX, Bejing Huiwen Science & Technology, and BlueBotics announced disinfection robots. They joined Corvus Robotics, Thoro.ai, Xenex Disinfection Services, Omron Asia Pacific and Techmetics, and many others. And these are just the autonomous mobile robots.

Despite some doubts over whether aerial drones can effectively disinfect large areas, Perpetual Motion has launched such a service. Other companies, such Clearpath Robotics, are developing robots to treat outdoor spaces.

In addition to the commercial products and academic research, the public sector is understandably interested in applying robotics to fighting COVID-19. The Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute, a public-private consortium, recently announced the funding of nine projects to help U.S. resilience.

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During the current coronavirus pandemic, one of the riskiest parts of a healthcare worker’s job is assessing people who have symptoms of COVID-19. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said they hope to reduce that risk by using robots to remotely measure patients’ vital signs.

The Spot quadruped robots, which are controlled by a handheld device, can also carry a tablet that allows doctors to ask patients about their symptoms without being in the same room.

“In robotics, one of our goals is to use automation and robotic technology to remove people from dangerous jobs,” said Henwei Huang, a postdoctoral student at MIT. “We thought it should be possible for us to use a robot to remove the healthcare worker from the risk of directly exposing themselves to the patient.”

Using four cameras mounted on a dog-like robot developed by Boston Dynamics, the researchers have shown that they can measure skin temperature, breathing rate, pulse rate, and blood oxygen saturation in healthy patients, from a distance of 2 meters. They are now making plans to test it in patients with COVID-19 symptoms.

“We are thrilled to have forged this industry-academia partnership in which scientists with engineering and robotics expertise worked with clinical teams at the hospital to bring sophisticated technologies to the bedside,” said Giovanni Traverso, an MIT assistant professor of mechanical engineering who is also a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the senior author of the study.

The researchers have posted a paper on their system on the preprint server techRxiv, and have submitted it to a peer-reviewed journal. Huang is one of the lead authors of the study, along with Peter Chai, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Claas Ehmke, a visiting scholar from ETH Zurich.

Brigham and Women’s focuses on vitals

When COVID-19 cases began surging in Boston in March, many hospitals, including Brigham and Women’s, set up triage tents outside their emergency departments to evaluate people with novel coronavirus symptoms. One major component of this initial evaluation is measuring vital signs, including body temperature.

The MIT and Brigham and Women’s researchers came up with the idea to use robots to enable contactless monitoring of vital signs, to allow health care workers to minimize their exposure to potentially infectious patients. They decided to use existing computer vision technologies that can measure temperature, breathing rate, pulse, and blood oxygen saturation, and worked to make them mobile.

To achieve that, they used Spot. Health care workers can use a handheld controller to maneuver the robot to wherever patients are sitting. The researchers mounted four different cameras onto the robot — an infrared camera plus three monochrome cameras that filter different wavelengths of light.

Related content: “We tele-operated Spot around Golden Gate Park — from 3,000 miles away“; The Robot Report Podcast: More on tele-operating Spot

The researchers developed algorithms that allow them to use the infrared camera to measure both elevated skin temperature and breathing rate. For body temperature, the camera measures skin temperature on the face, and the algorithm correlates that temperature with core body temperature. The algorithm also takes into account the ambient temperature and the distance between the camera and the patient, so that measurements can be taken from different distances, under different weather conditions, and still be accurate.

Measurements from the infrared camera can also be used to calculate the patient’s breathing rate. As the patient breathes in and out, wearing a mask, their breath changes the temperature of the mask. Measuring this temperature change allows the researchers to calculate how rapidly the patient is breathing.

The three monochrome cameras each filter a different wavelength of light — 670, 810, and 880 nanometers. These wavelengths allow the researchers to measure the slight color changes that result when hemoglobin in blood cells binds to oxygen and flows through blood vessels. The researchers’ algorithm uses these measurements to calculate both pulse rate and blood oxygen saturation.

“We didn’t really develop new technology to do the measurements,” Huang said. “What we did is integrate them together very specifically for the COVID application, to analyze different vital signs at the same time.”

Researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital hope to reduce the risk to healthcare workers by using robots such as Spot to remotely measure patients’ vital signs. Source: Image courtesy of the researchers, MIT News

Robots enable continuous monitoring

In this study, the researchers performed the measurements on healthy volunteers. They are now making plans to test their robotic approach in people who are showing symptoms of COVID-19 in a hospital emergency department.

In the meantime, the researchers plan to focus on triage applications. In the longer term, they said they envision that the robots could be deployed in patients’ hospital rooms. This would allow the robots to continuously monitor patients and also allow doctors to check on them, via tablet, without having to enter the room. Both applications would require approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The Brigham and Women’s research was funded by the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Karl van Tassel (1925) Career Development Professorship. The research described here has not yet been peer-reviewed by scientific or medical experts.

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