Why Mapping is an Important Disinfection Robot Feature

With cleanliness and sanitation gaining more attention over the past few years, businesses, wanting to keep their staff and customers safe, have looked for ways to keep their locations free from harmful pathogens. To facilitate, many turned to technology and started using disinfection robots. But not all robots are created equal, and there’s one disinfection robot feature — mapping — that must be properly performed or else you run the risk of compromising the entire disinfection process.

The Importance of Proper Mapping

OhmniLabs disinfection practices, no matter how robust and powerful they may be touted, are only effective if they’re implemented and used correctly. This is especially true when it comes to using UV light. While UV has been proven to eliminate 99.9% of pathogens, the emitter must reach every spot within a location for a thorough disinfection to take place. And when using a UV disinfection robot, an improperly mapped room could lead to missed surfaces and potentially leave harmful organisms present.

Also, UV light disinfection is susceptible to a shadowing effect. In short, shadowing is when the UV light does come into contact with the front side of an object’s surface, but the backside of the object does not receive any dose of disinfection. Ensuring that a location is properly mapped for UV disinfection means accounting for the problem of shadowing, and taking measures to ensure that the emitter is placed in the right locations to allow it to disinfect all sides of an object.

Mapping Problems with Existing UV Disinfection Robots

Ostensibly speaking, mapping for UV disinfection should be a relatively simple and easy process. But with existing manual solutions, that’s not always the case. These systems often require an engineer to come on-site and perform the mapping duties. This not only costs money, but can take significant time to schedule and implement. And if new rooms or locations require disinfection or a previously mapped room has a change in layout, the entire process must be completed once again.

But the initial mapping process is only the first factor in UV disinfection, and other tangential problems can arise afterward. With manual UV emitters, after the engineer has performed their duties, the in-house staff is then tasked with positioning the unit in the exact spots planned on the map. Any wrong position — even if off by the slightest amount — could result in missed surfaces and ineffective disinfection. Combined with the usual bulky and heavy design of these units, it’s easy to see how accurate placement of the emitter could be more difficult than you’d think.

Proper mapping — and an accurate execution of that map — is essential in the fight against infections. So when OhmniLabs set out to develop the UV-C disinfection robot, OhmniClean, OhmniLabs wanted to make sure that the process was straightforward and as effortless as possible.

QuickMap™ — One of OhmniClean’s Premier Disinfection Robot Features

Knowing its importance, mapping was one disinfection robot feature that OhmniLabs wanted to make a top priority. After countless hours of testing and trying new things, OhmniLabs landed on a revolutionary mapping process that they call QuickMap.

QuickMap is exactly what it sounds like — a method to map a new room quickly. The process is intuitive and easy, and the user interface walks you through the entire procedure.

Here’s a simple overview of how it works:

With the OhmniClean in a new room, initiate the QuickMap process by pushing a select few buttons on the built-in tablet.

Once you receive notification that the mapping process has begun, physically push the unit around the room, creating the path that OhmniClean will follow during its disinfection procedure.

As you move the unit, the tablet will display a real-time rendering of the disinfection path, as well as the room itself. Be sure to manoeuvre around any tables, chairs, equipment, or other obstacles that OhmniClean will need to avoid during its disinfection process.

Once your desired path is complete, another few button pushes will finish the process, and you’ll be presented with a rendering of the fully mapped room.

And that’s all. Your mapped room is saved in the cloud for whenever it’s needed, and that same map can be used in multiple rooms that share the same layout.

The process couldn’t be any easier, and new staff members can be trained on its operation in as little as ten minutes. Plus, the lightweight design of OhmniClean (only 26 kgs) as well as its compact footprint make for easy pushing and navigating through even the tightest of spaces.

Of course, the best part of using autonomous UV-C disinfection is when the mapping is complete, you’re able to leave the room, initiate the disinfection process, and let the self-driving capabilities take care of the rest. It provides you with a thoroughly disinfected space while giving you the free time to focus on other duties.

The Magic of QuickMap

While there are many disinfection robot features that set OhmniClean above the competition, there is no denying that QuickMap is one of the top ones. It’s easy, it’s efficient, and it’s the best way to ensure that every space or location receives a thorough, complete disinfection.

About Robots4Good

A leading provider of robots as a service, Robots4Good is the exclusive supplier of OhmniLabs robots and services in Australia and New Zealand for business, manufacturing, schools, hospitals, disability and aged care settings.