Thanks to 5G technology and AI, an autonomous robot performs disinfection tasks to combat biological contamination (including Covid-19) in one of the largest food handling areas in the country, Mercabarna.
Partners: Mercabarna, ACCIONA, Orange and Mobile World Capital Barcelona
Colaborators: Generalitat de Catalunya
Sector: Industry
Use cases: The aim of this pilot project is to test the benefits of applying 5G connectivity to artificial intelligence systems by using it in an autonomous robot to disinfect areas that may be contaminated by viruses such as Covid-19, bacteria or other harmful microorganisms in industrial facilities, in this specific case Mercabarna, an area through which an average of 23,000 worker s pass every day.
Description of the technology:
Communication with the robot is almost immediate thanks to the ultra-low latency of 5G technology, which also brings other great advantages to this type of application, such as greater speed and scalability, allowing multiple devices to be connected.
In addition, 5G technology also enables the exchange of information between robotic vehicles (e.g. environmental parameters), so they can perform collaborative tasks autonomously, with the ability to detect and avoid obstacles. In this way, a worker can remotely control a robotic vehicle, resolving the high attenuation rates and the risk of communication outages that occur with other technologies such as Wi-Fi, LTE-M or NB-IoT.
Main solution or advance offered by the technology:
The robot eliminates germs from surfaces and destroys any airborne particles using concentrated ultraviolet light (UV-C). In addition, the robot automatically switches off as soon as it detects someone in the area, as the intensity of the light can be harmful to people.
In addition to the UV lamp, this machine can move around the rooms autonomously thanks to the use of artificial intelligence algorithms. It only takes 2 hours to eliminate 99.99% of the harmful micro-organisms in the 3,869 m2 warehouse of Mercabarna’s organic food wholesale market, the Biomarket.
The use of an artificial intelligence system allows the machine to focus on the areas most likely to be contaminated, such as washbasins, door handles, food handling tables, counters, etc.; it then moves on its own to the different rooms of the facility. It also has an additional module to detect the presence of bacteria and biological fluids through fluorescence in order to monitor the hygiene of any room.
The robot can also be used in quarantine areas and laboratories, and could have civilian applications in the new post-pandemic scenario. This is the case for hotels, airports and other public places, which will have to deal with how to manage cleanliness so that they do not represent a health risk.
Status: Finished
