Since the coronavirus took hold in the world and caused a pandemic that has lasted more than two years, concerns about infectious agents (viruses, bacteria, fungi) have more than doubled.
Whether with gel alcohol in the bag, cleaning the purchases that arrive, or even redoubled disinfection in a hospital environment – a place where a large number of infections usually occur.
According to the Ministry of Health, nosocomial infections are a multifactorial problem that requires a series of actions that must be organized in health services, within the Infection Control Program, as determined by Law 9,431/1,997.
Institutions adopt prevention and control actions, such as hand hygiene, elaboration and application of a series of prevention protocols, application of precautionary and isolation measures, management of the use of antimicrobials, protocols for cleaning and disinfection of surfaces.
But these precautions are not always enough. It is estimated that in Brazil, the hospital infection rate occurs in 14% of hospitalizations, according to Saúde.
For this reason, researchers from the Phi Robotics Research Lab Group, based at the Instituto de Informática of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), have developed an intelligent robot capable of decontaminating infected environments using ultraviolet light and ozonized mist.
“The task carried out by our group is to provide robots with autonomy so that they can move efficiently in order to properly emit ultraviolet light throughout the environment to decontaminate it. For this, we keep control of the disinfected area, with a map that shows what was decontaminated and what was not”, reveals Edson Prestes, member of the Institute of Electronic and Electric Engineers (IEEE) and researcher at UFRGS.
Device
The “Jaci”, as the robot was named, can measure up to 1.80 meters in height and is battery operated. The device scans the place where it was installed, and with the help of ultraviolet light, it prevents and reduces infectious agents – such as the coronavirus.
In a second step, the ozonized mist “is used to disinfect regions that the light did not reach or stayed for less time than desired”, as explained by the project coordinator, Mariana Kolberg.
“The user chooses which microorganisms to inactivate and the robot disinfects the place,” said Kolerg.
Jaci was developed to ‘clean’ both solid surfaces and exterminate air agents.
The technology is already available in four hospitals: Unimed, Hospital Concenção (public), Hospital São Lucas, in Porto Alegre (serving SUS), Premiere and soon at Instituto do Coração (Incor).
According to Prestes, “many lives could have been saved with this technology in hospitals during the most acute moments of the pandemic”.
Source: CNN Brasil
