Autonomous disinfection of patient rooms by Blue Ocean Robotics

The UV-Disinfection Robot - also called UV-DR - is an autonomous disinfection robot for hospitals, production lines and pharmaceutical companies. The robot is made as an additional part of, but not limited to, the cleaning cycle with the aim of reducing spread of HAIs, infectious diseases, viruses, bacteria, and other types or harmful organic microorganisms.

UV-DR is a mobile robot that can drive autonomously while emitting concentrated UV-C light onto pre-defined infectious hotspots in patient rooms and other hospital environments, thus disinfecting and killing bacteria and virus on all exposed surfaces. An exposure time of ten minutes can kill up to 99,9% of bacteria such as Clostridium Difficile.

Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) and Healthcare Associated Infections are a major and growing problem for the healthcare system and give rise to significant costs for hospitals, primarily because of extra days in bed, readmissions, deaths, etc.

The infections typically occur in connection with the admission, examination, treatment, care or rehabilitation. The source of infection can be other patients, staff, visitors or even equipment and environments. In general the infection rates can be prevented if the chain of infection is broken.

The UV-DR is developed through Blue Ocean Robotics RoBi-X partnership program in collaboration with leading university hospitals in Scandinavia. The robot is designed to ensure a cost-efficient and reliable measure and removal of the overall level of bacteria and viruses, thereby increasing the operation time of the hospital, limiting the number of patient complaints and securing high quality service, better patient experience and success rate. The UV-DR can also be used in manufacturing production line where a high level of compliance in disinfection is required.

Odense University Hospital, OUH, came to Blue Ocean Robotics in 2015 with an enquiry to solve one of the hospitals biggest problems - the spread of Hospital Acquired Infections, better known as HAIs. Each year, approximately 50,000 Danes catch an HAI, while an estimated 3,000 people die from HAI related complications (source: https://goo.gl/sajxTy). The source of the infections can be difficult to identify, as patients, visitors, and physical objects can be transfer agents. Therefore, a comprehensive disinfection is necessary to minimize the risk of transmission and infection.

A recent study made by the World Health Organization, WHO, shows that of every 100 hospitalized patients at any given time, on average 7 in developed and 10 in developing countries will acquire at least one Hospital Acquired Infection. At any given time, the prevalence of HAIs in developed countries varies between 3.5% and 12%.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reports an average prevalence of 7.1% in European countries. The estimated incidence rate in the United States of America (USA) was according to the same source 8.5% in 2013, corresponding to 18.2 infections per 1000 patient-days and 3.14 million affected patients.

"UV-Disinfection-Robot will improve and simplify the way we currently disinfect patient rooms. And by letting the robot support the cleaning, we aim to reduce the number of hospital-acquired infections, sick leave and - not least - the number of deaths due to infections acquired during hospitalization. OUH and the Clinical Microbiology department by Hans Jørn Kolmos has all along participated in and supported the development process of UV-Disinfection-Robot, and will continue to assist Blue Ocean Robotics and the partnership Sygehuspartnerskabet with clinical expertise" says Peder Jest, Director of Odense University Hospital.

Watch UV Disinfection Robot demo video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK4sx7mEDw8&feature=youtu.be

Executive Summary:

Both Blue Ocean Robotics and the involved hospitals in Scandinavia sees a huge potential with the UV-Disinfection Robot, for reducing the HAI, and provide a better hygiene standard for existing and future hospitals. Already now hospitals around the world have shown great interest in the UV-Disinfection Robot - ranging from healthcare institution in Europe, China, Asia, America and the Middle East. Blue Ocean Robotics is open for pre-orders and expect first shipment to take place early 2017.