Sterilization Robotic Approach in Hospitals: Case Study at King Hamad Hospital Bahrain

Abstract

Environmental cleaning in healthcare settings is increasingly valued as a critical element of treatments to reduce the spread of viruses connected to the industry. Through unbiased monitoring and environmental hygiene improvement, this significance is recognized. After setting the parameters “surface distance” and “exposure time” for each area as given by the manufacturer, the robot moved autonomously and emitted UVD irradiation in the medical equipment workshop and in the operating theater at King Hamad University Hospital. All the swabs that were taken at the beginning without exposing that surface to UV lights show a dirty level of cleanliness. After 2 minutes of exposing the surface to UV, the dirty level decreased to an approximately similar ratio, then after 4 minutes of exposing the values decreased to more than 80%. The UVD Robot disinfection test results demonstrate that longer UVC exposure times applied at a constant distance or slower UVD robot operation speeds resulted in more efficient sterilization. UVD Robot shows high maneuverability in navigation to the goal positions autonomously with a high performance, avoiding obstacles.