Pittsburgh tech company adds ultraviolet disinfection robots to its portfolio

Most people think of ultraviolet light as the main reason for wearing sunscreen. Chris Proud, CEO at Safe Space Technologies in Pittsburgh, sees it as another weapon in the battle against the coronavirus.

Safe Spaces’ parent company, Miller Process, focuses on collaborative robots, networking services and automation for a variety of businesses.

Last year, the company added a new branch, Safe Space Technologies, creating a robot equipped with vertical light rods that bathe the immediate area in a type of ultraviolet light not normally found on our planet.

The light is one of three types of ultraviolet light. The two kinds common on Earth are UVA and UVB. Overexposure to either causes sunburn. But UVC light is entirely blocked by the Earth’s ozone layer, never making it to the ground.

“UVA and UVB enter our atmosphere. That’s why we wear sunscreen and sunglasses,” Proud said. “UVC does not. But when that light hits the DNA and RNA makeup of viruses and pathogens, they haven’t developed any kind of defense mechanism against it.”

In a strange bit of role reversal, human bodies have not developed an immune response to the coronavirus, and the virus has not developed an immune response to UVC-spectrum light.

“Basically, they don’t have an immune system against it,” Proud said.

UVC disinfecting is not new. The Franklin Township Municipal Sanitary Authority in Murrysville uses it at its sewage treatment plant. And, in the spring, the Pittsburgh International Airport became the first airport in the country to use UV scrubbers to eliminate coronavirus at its facilities, using machines outfitted with the lights by Carnegie Robotics.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel,” Proud said. “We’re a team of roboticists, engineers and technicians who are applying that experience to the world of disinfection.”

And there is plenty of disinfection work available, with school districts and colleges struggling to find a way to safely reopen for the coming school year.

Proud said the robots can eliminate the need to use harsh cleaning chemicals, reduce labor and reduce human error.

“We developed a robot that can allow businesses, universities and hospitals to get better disinfection results,” he said.

Watching the robot work is rather unremarkable. It moves around a room with four-feet long , 190-watt UVC bulbs sitting atop a 25-by-36-inch platform.

“The light roves around areas that our implementation team has already mapped out,” Proud said.

You wouldn’t want to watch it with the naked eye, however: The rays can be harmful and the robots have a built-in safety feature, “so that the robot can ‘see’ a person and immediately shut down,” Proud said.

The company is talking with both North Catholic High School and the Plum School District about putting its robots to work.

“We have asked to ‘test drive’ the technology prior to a purchase to ensure that is a good fit for our needs,” Plum Superintendent Brendan Hyland said. “We were impressed with the technology, but we really wanted to see it in action before we made a final decision.”

Proud looks at it as another tool in his company’s toolbox.

“We have years of experience with UVC technology, but now we’re using it in a different application,” he said.