Autonomous UV Disinfection Robot With Exposure Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile devices for disinfecting indoor areas are inefficient in covering all contaminated surfaces and often require operator supervision for guidance.
Innovation Solution
A mobile robot system that autonomously maps and disinfects areas using UV light, generating maps and exposure maps based on sensor data, allowing for targeted disinfection and reporting of treated areas, with the ability to adjust UV light dosage and movement speed according to specific pathogens and microorganisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If mobile robots are used for disinfection, then disinfection capability is provided, but efficiency and completeness of surface coverage deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs sensors to detect surfaces and objects in real-time, feeds this information back to the processor, and adjusts the disinfection trajectory accordingly. This closed-loop feedback mechanism enables the robot to adapt to dynamic environments, avoid obstacles, and ensure complete surface coverage, thereby resolving the contradiction between automation and disinfection efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot performs preliminary mapping and identification of surfaces and objects before initiating the disinfection process. By pre-planning the disinfection trajectory based on detected environmental features, the system optimizes its movement path and ensures comprehensive coverage, improving productivity while maintaining autonomous operation.
2Ease of operation
If operator supervision is provided, then guidance is improved, but operational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile robot autonomously performs disinfection tasks by independently detecting surfaces, planning trajectories, and executing disinfection without requiring continuous operator supervision. The system serves itself by integrating sensing, processing, and actuation functions, thereby simplifying operation while maintaining systematic functionality.
3Reliability
If comprehensive surface detection is performed, then disinfection completeness is improved, but time consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor detection and UV disinfection processes occur simultaneously and continuously as the robot moves through the environment. Rather than performing discrete detection followed by separate disinfection, the system maintains continuous operation where surfaces are detected and disinfected in real-time, eliminating idle time and ensuring completeness without time loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The robot performs preliminary detection of surfaces and objects before disinfection, allowing it to plan an optimized trajectory that minimizes detection time while ensuring all areas are covered. This advance planning enables the system to maintain high reliability without excessive time consumption.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient, autonomous disinfection of indoor areas with minimal operator input, ensuring comprehensive coverage and accurate reporting of disinfection efforts.
Implementation Method 1
emitting, using a light source of the mobile robot, ultraviolet (UV) light to disinfect at least a portion of the area, including at least one of air, a surface, and/or an object
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B
Figure 2~3A
AI summary
Implementations of the disclosed subject matter provide a method of mobile disinfection that includes positioning a mobile robot in an area to be disinfected and receiving a command to perform disinfection at the mobile robot. The processor may determine whether the area is cleared for disinfection based on one or more signals outputted from the one or more sensors of the mobile robot when it is determined that the area is already mapped. A light source of the mobile robot may emit ultraviolet (UV). The processor may generate a two dimensional (2D) map or a three dimensional (3D) map based on at least one of the surface and the object that are detected by a sensor as the mobile robot moves, and an exposure map of at least one of the air, the surface, and/or the object exposed by the emitted UV light in the area to be disinfected and dosage levels of the emitted UV light applied as the mobile robot moves.