March 2020

UVD Robot winner of the Technology Transfer Award 2020

The euRobotics Technology Transfer Award 2020 was bestowed on Blue Ocean Robotics for “UVD Robot” on 3 March 2020 at the European Robotics Forum (ERF) in Malaga.

The UV-Disinfection robot was developed based on a cooperation between Blue Ocean Robotics, a number of Danish hospitals and Danish Business Authority Market Development Fund, with the aim of finding a solution to the challenge of safe and effective disinfection.  This autonomous mobile UV disinfection system can kill up to 99.99% of the hospital bacteria and fungal spores using the UV-C light system with an exposure time of only 10 minutes.


Source: Blue Ocean Robotics

As exposure of UV-C light toward humans should be avoided, the robot contains a number of safety features: for example, a tablet which is placed on the door of the patient's room that acts as a motion sensor – it automatically disengages the UV-C light if someone wants to enter the room.

"We received high-impact applications for this year’s tech transfer award. With disinfection robot technology as the winner, purely by chance, we met the need of our current health crisis.", said Dr. Werner Kraus, Head of Department Robot and Assistive Systems, Fraunhofer IPA, and organizer of the euRobotics Technology Transfer Award.

Blue Ocean Robotics is a Danish manufacturer of service robots for the healthcare, hospitality, construction and agricultural sectors based in Odense. The UV disinfection robot is sold by its subsidiary, UVD Robots.

The second and third place prizes were presented to Voliro - Hands in the Sky and VUB/BruBotics Axiles' Bionic Foot, respectively.

Voliro has successfully shifted the ability of service drones from "fly and see" to "fly, see, and touch". This autonomous flying robot enables inspections in hazardous environments and increases the vlaue of collected data thanks to the precise and automated data collection.

BruBotics Bionic Foot is a new ankle-foot prostheses that can bring back a natural gait for lower-limb amputees.


About euRobotics Technology Transfer Award:

Successful technology transfer describes the process of converting scientific findings from research laboratories into innovative products, processes and services by the commercial sector. The euRobotics Technology Transfer Award, now in its 16th edition, honors outstanding examples of technology transfer in robot technology and automation that result from cooperative efforts between research and industry. The three most outstanding examples of technology transfer will receive cash awards and signed certificates.
Dr. Werner Kraus, Head of Department Robot and Assistive Systems, Fraunhofer IPA, is the organizer of this prestigious award.

The jury committee consists of: Herman Bruyninckx (KU Leuven), Rainer Bischoff (KUKA AG), Fariba Khatami (EUnited aisbl), Werner Kraus (Fraunhofer IPA), Nicola Tomatis (BlueBotics SA), and Georg von Wichert (Siemens AG).