UVD Robots Market

Market Overview

The Ultraviolet Disinfection or UVD Robot allows regular cleaning, prevention, and reduction in the spread of infectious diseases, viruses, bacteria, and other organic micro-organisms in the environment. The robot is safe, reliable, and eliminates human error, as it uses high-intensity light sources to improve the work environment, patient safety levels, and operational efficiency.

High-intensity sources emit 20 joules per square meter per second of 254-nanometer light and allow the UVD robots to reduce infections by disinfecting rooms, hallways, and elevators. The benefits of the UVD robot is the capacity of 360-degree UV disinfection that eliminates 99.99% of bacteria within 10 minutes. Equipped with a LIDAR, emergency button, software, and sensor-based safety features, UVD robots work by breaking down the DNA-structure of the the virus, bacteria, and other types of harmful pathogens that cause the spread of infectious diseases.

Market Dynamics

The high cost of UVD Robot is a major factor that can restrain the market growth during the forecast period. The high cost of a UVD robot is hindering its adoption across low-income regions. The cost of a single UVD robot ranges around USD 80,000－USD 90,000. Companies are developing low-cost UVD robots and investing in high-performance robots.

Robots such as Roomba and Sccoba are expensiveand can’t be afforded by common people. These robots are preferred for large scale use such as industrial applications. Additionally,high maintenance and repair costs alsorestrain the market growth. However,technological advancements by some key players such as Bioquell Inc., Blue Ocean Robotics Norway As, Clorox Co, and Ultraviolet devices, Ecovacs Robotics Inc, Intellibot Robotics LLC, IRobot Corporation, Lumalier Corp, Siemens, Aucma, Kuka Agare, and others, in the cleaning and disinfection robots industry, is expected to propel the market growth during the forecast period.

Segmental Analysis

UV Light Disinfecting Technology Segment Anticipated to Witness a Significant Growth

UV disinfecting technology is being used to disinfect spaces, especially drinking water for a long time and is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period.  A UV lamp needs to be pointed directly at a surface for a couple of minutes to be effective and can cause damage to human skin and eyes and is not commonly used outside of fixed infrastructure. This caused the introduction of mobile UVC disinfection systems including UV lamps on a cart that is mobile and can disinfect specific areas, like airplanes,and have now gained widespread popularity.

For large environments like a hospital with dozens of rooms, operating UV systems manually can be costly and have mixed results. This robot consists of a mobile base equipped with multiple LIDAR sensors and an array of UV lamps mounted on the top. Users can control it using a computer. The robot scans the environment using its LIDARs and creates a digital map indicating all the rooms and points the robot should stop to perform disinfecting tasks.

Hospitals and Healthcare Segment to Witness a Large Scale Adoption

Based on the applications segment, the healthcare industry is anticipated to be the fastest-growing sector with large adoption of UVD robots during the forecast period. This rise is due to the spread of COVID-19. Hospitals regularly need to disinfect their furniture and surfaces to prevent the spread of infections and diseases. The manual methods are time-consuming and can be error-prone. Thus, the use of UVD robots can prove efficient in cleaning. North America accounts for 33% of the cleaning and disinfection robots market share. This is due to technological advancements and infrastructure developments in the region. The increasing demand for automated devices in healthcare and industrial facilities, stringent government regulations regarding hygiene, along with lower labor cost, improved cleaning efficiency, and lower chances of contagious germs, drive the market growth in various sectors.

Impact of covid-19

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced employers and companies to adopt safety strategies, such as washing hands, social distancing, staying home when sick, avoiding travel whenever possible, and others. In most residential areas, hospitals, and healthcare facilities, it is not enough to wash hands and maintain social distancing to eliminated the virus. Therefore, the UVD and other disinfection robots are in high demand and deployed to involve less human work and regularly sanitize the workplace. To prevent corona virus spread, hospitals are keeping surfaces disinfected with the use of autonomous robots. These factors are significantly boosting market demand across the globe.

UVD robots can travel through hallways, elevators, and disinfect without any human intervention before returning to recharge. Growing infectious diseases caused by a virus, bacteria, and otherharmful organic microorganisms along with many hospital-borne infections are proliferating the demand of these robots. Millions of patients are infected and thousands of patients fall dead due to hospital-acquired infections.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has increased the demand for UVD robots. Authorities are planning to ensure safety, prevent and reduce the spread of infectious diseases,by investing in such UVD robots. Iteliminates the coronavirus and also has proven efficacy against MERS, CoV, and MHV-A59. This is projected to surge the market growth during the forecast period.

Regional Analysis

North America to Dominate the Market and Europe to Witness a Significant Growth

UVD robots are relatively affordable for medical equipment and are witnessing a largescale adoption in North America. The robots are smarter and cost-effective than the ones available in the market today. Most companies are deploying these robots greatly for disinfection purposes. Hundreds of these robots are deployed in more than 40 countries and have recently completed hospital trials in Florida. Over the next few years, they can be used in schools, cruise ships, or any other relatively structured spaces.

As the second wave of Coronavirus cases surged across Europe, UVD Robots and Blue Ocean Robotics, a manufacturer of the autonomous disinfecting robot equipped with UV-C light, have announced to supply 200 of its autonomous disinfecting robots to European Union hospitals fighting against the pandemic. UVD Robots’ tender ranked first in the European Commission’s review of numerous disinfecting robots evaluating technical excellence and maturity of technology, and quality of approach in deployment. Many EU countries are now deploying UVD Robots. The European Commission is buying 200 disinfection robots, which will be delivered to hospitals across Europe to help disinfect patient rooms. The size and breadth of this order validate the effectiveness of robots, and the company plans to deploy them as quickly as possible to protect healthcare workers and patients, to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Recent Developments

• In November 2019, The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) introduced UVD Robots for autonomously disinfecting hospital wards with germicidal UV rays. The UVD robot can guarantee hospitals 99.99% disinfection rates, which reduces the infection risk of patients and staff.
• In February 2020, Sunay Healthcare Supply collaborated with UVD Robots to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in China. With Ultraviolet light (UV), the robot can disinfect and kill viruses and bacteria, effectively limiting the spread of coronavirus among hospital staff
• A Cheetah Mobile-backed robotics company, Orion Star, has deployed robots in China to guide in preliminary diagnosis and treatment, primary disclosure of medical information, andfixed-point delivery of medical supplies in hospitals. Chinese hospitals, including Peking University Shougang Hospital, Beijing Haidian Hospital, Wuhan Vulcan Mountain Hospital, and Zhengzhou’s Xiaotangshan Hospitalhavedeployed the robot.
• An Israeli start-up, Robotemi, has recently developed Temi robot assistant, to be used in hundreds of hospitals, medical centers, nursing homes, and corporate buildings to help minimize human-to-human contact as millions of people take precautions due to the novel coronavirus outbreak worldwide. The product has already been distributed to hundreds of locations throughout Southeast Asia including China, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.

UVD Robots Market Segmentation

By Type

• Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor
• Ultraviolet Light
• Others

By Application

• Commercial and Industrial
• Healthcare
• Others

By Region

• North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• The SAMEA