LG Electronics developing autonomous robot to disinfect high-touch, high-traffic areas

December 17, 2020 | AUVSI News

LG Electronics has announced that it is developing an autonomous robot that will use ultraviolet (UV-C) light to disinfect high-touch, high-traffic areas.

The robot will be officially unveiled at Digital CES 2021 in January. LG Business Solutions USA plans to offer the UV robot to U.S. hospitality, education, corporate, retail, restaurant, and transportation customers in early 2021.

“We hope LG’s first UV disseminating robot will give our customers, and in turn their customers, peace of mind,” says Michael Kosla, vice president, LG Business Solutions USA.

“Whether it’s hotel guests, students in classrooms or patrons of restaurants and other businesses, they can rest assured that the LG autonomous UV robot will help reduce their exposure to harmful bacteria and germs.”

By helping to disinfect high-touch, high-traffic areas, the robot will enable a “new standard of hygiene,” LG says. Its autonomous design will allow the robot to move easily around tables, chairs and other furniture. It will take just 15 to 30 minutes to irradiate a room’s touchable surfaces, disinfecting multiple areas on a single battery charge.

The robot is engineered to be easy to operate. It can be integrated into established cleaning routines without requiring extensive staff training or specialists to operate it. Using remote updates to smartphones or tablets, staff will be able to monitor the robot’s progress.

Employee exposure to UV rays will be minimized through a built-in safety lock activated by human motion detection sensors, pressing of an emergency stop button or via the mobile application. 

“A higher level of disinfection is going to become the new customer expectation in the new contactless economy where we now all live, work, learn and play,” Kosla says. 

“LG is bringing to bear its expertise in robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles for creative solutions like this to meet specific customer requirements.”

LG says that the robot is the first in a series of new LG CLOi autonomous robots planned for introduction in the U.S. during 2021.