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– Service robots can help ensure that buildings and means of transport are regularly cleaned and disinfected and of consistent high quality.
Minapim by Hernan Valenzuela: Since October 2020, twelve Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft institutions have been working on the development of new technologies for this field of application. Led by Fraunhofer IPA, the partners are gathering their experience in the research project Mobile Disinfection in fighting viruses and bacteria MobDi contributing to a safe “New Normal” in times of pandemic. The project is part of the Fraunhofer vs. Corona.
A key in the fight against COVID-19 is to minimize the risk of infection. On the one hand, robots must allow disinfection of potentially contaminated surfaces in buildings and means of transport, as needed and with care with a robot. On the other hand, developments should help to automate the transport of materials in clinics and, thus, neutralize the spread of germs by the team.
New disinfection and transport robots
The project partners are developing specialized service robots for disinfecting buildings and transport. The technical basis for disinfecting buildings is Fraunhofer IPA’s DeKonBot, which the institute developed last year in the previous project of the same name.
In the project, the researchers will further improve their tool to clean disinfection and optimize the platform as a whole with regard to subsequent series production.
The robot for disinfecting transport vehicles is being developed at the Fraunhofer IFAM. Particularly challenging is the development of a modular drive support to overcome gaps and steps. For both robots, the project partners are creating various tools that disinfect by cleaning, spraying, UV or plasma treatment. Robots can switch automatically as needed.
Fraunhofer IPA is also developing a new transport robot that can load several handcarts, such as those normally used in clinics. Compared to existing products, the new development is characterized by small dimensions and a particularly maneuverable undercarriage.
Fraunhofer IVV is providing support in the hygienic design of several robots. The institute also develops concepts for self-cleaning. This prevents the machines themselves from becoming a risk of contamination.
Enhanced perception capabilities
Thanks to intelligent perception capabilities, disinfection robots will be able to clean in a targeted manner. A new 3D multimodal sensor from Fraunhofer IOF is used for this purpose. With the help of this sensor, during commissioning, the robots independently recognize all the objects to be disinfected and the material from which they are made.
The Fraunhofer IPA object recognition system and the Fraunhofer IPM material recognition system evaluate the sensor data using machine learning methods. In this way, they get robust recognition, even though objects look slightly different in each application environment.
A multilayer environment model developed by Fraunhofer IOSB gathers all the necessary information and thus allows robots to plan cleaning sequences independently. It contains a map of the environment, the position of all objects to be cleaned and their material.
Environment data does not always need to be taught manually. Based on the work of Fraunhofer Italia, it will be possible to automatically load this information from “Building Information Modeling” (BIM), a digital representation of the main building components that already exists for many buildings.
In the future, a perception function will also be used in regular operation before individual objects are disinfected: Based on the degree of contamination, robots must be able to optimize the cleaning process and verify its success. In the project, the Fraunhofer FEP is conducting the first fundamental investigations into how this contamination could be detected.
Analysis of cleaning methods
For targeted and gentle cleaning, the project partners are conducting tests with the various cleaning and disinfection methods on widely used types of surfaces, such as stainless steel and plastics. In addition to analyzing individual processes, they are also investigating possible combinations of different cleaning and disinfection methods.
For example, robots can first clean a door handle and then use ultraviolet light to neutralize germs in hard-to-reach places. Fraunhofer ILT will specifically analyze the combined use of UV and plasma sources.
For the various processes, researchers from the Fraunhofer FEP and IFAM Institutes evaluate the success of disinfection based on contamination with bacterial and also viral samples. In addition, Fraunhofer IST is investigating possible material damage and Fraunhofer IWS is investigating the formation of harmful decomposition products. Thus, a methodology will be developed to select the most appropriate procedures for each disinfection method depending on the material and the degree of contamination.
Demand-driven development
The technical developments of “MobDi” are based on requirements, benefits and economic analysis for which Fraunhofer IMW is responsible. To adapt the robots based on the user’s needs and practical requirements, the project partners worked together with the users early in the project.
They developed the scenarios to be implemented with the robots and derived their technical requirements together with specialists in logistics and hygiene in clinics, as well as with operators and cleaning staff in buildings and public transport. Users will also be involved in the project to develop intuitive user interfaces for the configuration and daily operation of the robots.
At the end of the project, in September 2021, the robots developed will also be evaluated in practical environments. First in their respective laboratories and then in realistic operating environments, such as in a public building, on public transport or in a clinic. The results will be compared with the so-called “Key Performance Indicators” (KPIs).
Participation opportunities
As robots are modular in design and use commercially available interfaces, the technologies developed in “MobDi” are easily transferable to other machines and robots. This supports the rapid transfer of research and development work to the application.
Interested manufacturers can contact the project partners if they want to participate in the development. In addition to transferring individual technologies to existing products, it is also possible to transfer the developed robots as a complete system to a new product.
Technical contact: Dr.-Ing. Birgit Graf – Fraunhofer Institute of Manufacturing and Automation Engineering – Nobelstr. 12 70569 Stuttgart Tel. +49 711 970-1910
Sources: Fraunhofer IPA
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