Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, scientists have begun making robots to do our dirty work. Because of the virus, there are jobs that are too dangerous for humans to do, such as disinfecting hospitals, which is what we are looking at here.
In the Robotics and Innovation Lab at Trinity College Dublin, scientists are building a robot, nicknamed Violet, to disinfect hospital rooms with reduced chances of spreading the virus. The idea started from Stevie, one of their products, which is a robot made to help people feel less lonely. When the pandemic started, they started making changes to the existing model to help in hospitals. Violet uses ultraviolet radiation to kill viruses, which damages DNA, but only enough to kill the virus and not enough to severely damage complex organisms. In testing, Violet is shown to be around four times faster than an average person with disinfectant at cleaning a room, and because its a robot, it is also more thorough.
Violet is only one out of many robots made to combat the pandemic, and they may prove to be a safe and effective way of dealing with the virus. All this research can also hopefully help humanity the next time we find ourselves in this situation.