Romanian cleaning robots to the rescue fighting virus in hospitals
Tim Hanlon
Europe;Romania
01:43

A Romanian robotics company is hoping to go from manufacturing four to 40 automated cleaning machines by the end of the year as the pandemic has shown a key role that the sector can do in fighting the virus.

Victor, an autonomous robot that kills pathogenic microorganisms including coronavirus using UV-C radiation, has been deployed at Bucharest University Hospital as a safer and quicker cleaning option.

The machine, made by Modulab, is one of several now in operation in Romania, and its success means that the company hope to go from having four now to 40 by the end of the year.

Due to European Union aid, Modulab will now have an assembly line allowing the robot to be put together in one day, compared to two weeks previously.

"We can see from this crisis... that we need all the help that we can get from automation and less work for humans or less danger for humans," said Paul Popescu, Modulab coowner.

Modulab already had already made the basic platform for the cleaning device and so it was a case of making some adjustments and adding the powerful UV-C lamps.

The finished robot is now capable of disinfecting 20 m2 areas in around 10 minutes. Modulab are getting orders from around Romania from other hospitals and offices that can see the benefits.

The Modulab team has been working in the technology area for over 15 years and in the past four, brothers Paul and Matei Popescu have focused on robotics.

Paul Popescu said how the company wanted to play its part in helping during the crisis and that is how they came up with the cleaning robot.

"We said, hey, let's do something, what we can, let's contribute with something," said Paul. 

"Everyone was (doing something) we had friends building things, or making masks or visors by 3D printing. Everybody was doing their part. And we said let's do something that we can in our field of knowledge."