Medical Disinfection Robots: Past vs Future. Improving the Disinfection Process by Using Disinfection Robots with Folding Mechanism

Nowadays, most disinfection robots have a bulky design or large dimensions, making it harder for them to operate in small, tight and narrow spaces from the medical environment and other facilities. The solution for disinfecting the hard-to-reach areas is to use disinfection robots with folding mechanism. They can operate in different configurations, making it easier for them to access the areas where the space is limited. More specifically, their folded position (minimum position) can be used to disinfect the area under the hospital beds, which is known to be a reservoir of infectious agents, while their extended position (maximum position) can be used for the general disinfection. The paper presents the characteristics of the currently available disinfection robots and how using robots with folding mechanism would overcome their limitations and improve the overall quality and efficiency of the disinfection process.