This article is part of Owning the Future, a series on how small businesses across the country are coping with the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr. Cristiano Huscher has long used robotics and artificial intelligence for surgical procedures at the Policlinico Abano chain of hospitals in Italy. So when six doctors contracted Covid-19 at his hospital in Sardinia two months ago, he once again turned to technology — in this case, UVD Robots — to disinfect the rooms.
The robot moves autonomously through a room, using ultraviolet-C light to kill the DNA in the virus, effectively destroying it, along with bacteria.
“This robot kills 99.99 percent of viruses, bacteria and fungal spores,” Dr. Huscher, chief of oncological surgery, robotics and new technologies, said. “We don’t have any nurses, doctors or patients with coronavirus since we started to use the robots.” He expects the robots to eventually become mandatory at hospitals.