A new semi-autonomous robot is able to disinfect large area in a short time. The robot can thereby help in the fight against coronavirus.
The robot was developed by researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) led by Professor of Robotics Chen I-Ming. In the process, they collaborated with three spin-offs from the university: Transforma Robotics, Hand Plus Robotics and Maju Robotics. Asia Centre of Technologies (ACOT) and Tungray Singapore Pte are involved as industry partners.
High workload
The researchers point to the sharply increased demand for cleaning and disinfecting services in the current pandemic. The robot should help reduce the workload in this sector.
Disinfecting robots have been available for some time. However, these have their limitations. For instance, the robots are mainly designed to clean floors. However, they are not suitable for cleaning abnormally shaped surfaces or objects above ground level.
Six-axis robotic arm
NTU Singapore's new robot can do just that. The robot is called eXtreme Disinfection roBOT (XDBOT) and is equipped with a six-axis robotic arm. This robotic arm can mimic human movements to reach hard-to-reach areas. These include surfaces under a table or bed, door knobs, table tops and light switches.
To ensure that the disinfectant reaches surfaces as effectively as possible, the robot is equipped with an electrostatically-charged nozzle. Compared to a conventional pressure-based nozzle, this ensures wider and further distribution of the disinfectant.
The robot carries this agent in an 8.5-litre tank. The robot can handle a wide range of agents for disinfecting a variety of environments. Examples cited by the researchers include childcare centres, hospitals, nursing homes and shopping malls.
Semi-autonomous
The robot moves using wheels and is semi-autonomous. This allows the robot to find its own way around environments using LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors and high-definition cameras. However, the arm is under the control of a human driver. The robot can be controlled via a laptop or tablet. The standard range is thirty metres. Using antennas on the XDBOT, a range of 50 metres or even more is possible. The researchers estimate that the robot can disinfect an area four times larger than manually in the same period.
The robot is equipped with a rechargeable battery pack that allows it to be operational for four hours. The batteries are then fully recharged in eight hours. The researchers hope to shorten this charging time using fast-charging technology.
Tested in practice
The XDBOT has already been field-tested at a number of NTU campuses, including the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Spine Plaza and the lunch area near event venue Canopy K in Singapore. The team plans to test their prototype in more public locations and local hospitals in the near future. The researchers are already in talks with hospitals for this purpose. If these tests go well and there appears to be sufficient demand for the robot, the three spin-offs want to develop a production model of the XDBOT.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
