Robots and COVID-19: Nine US Projects Automating Tasks in Critical Areas
In the summer of 2020, the US Department of Defense tasked the ARM Institute (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) with finding robotic solutions to help mitigate the coronavirus pandemic and create a technical foundation for responding to similar crises in the future. The institute engaged more than 300 people to gather project ideas.
Ultimately, nine projects were launched under the competition, funded by the Department of Defense's office. The projects focused on several critical areas, including disinfection of premises and surfaces, coronavirus testing, manufacturing and quality assurance procedures for personal protective equipment (PPE), and the use of robots in building temporary structures that can support hospital efforts.
“It is a great honor that the Department of Defense has entrusted us with fighting the coronavirus. The rapid execution of these projects and their successful results demonstrate the ARM Institute's ability to respond quickly to national needs by leveraging our diverse ecosystem of experts”
Institute technology portfolio manager Cara Mazzarini thanked the project teams that played an important role in supporting the Department of Defense's efforts. All technologies will be refined and implemented in ways that improve the US response to future crises.
Rapid production of personal protective equipment
The results of this project reduced the number of required operators and increased efficiency, shortened cycle time, increased production capacity, and improved reliability through vision-based fault detection and robotic operations with visual inspection, as well as the use of an Edge AI-based module as a service to reduce upfront equipment costs.
The pandemic exposed critical vulnerabilities in the global medical supply chain. Early in the pandemic, US manufacturers could not meet significant demand for personal protective equipment, leading to shortages and long lead times. The project improves existing automated mask production in the US, including robotic automated visual inspection, collection and sorting, and packaging and palletizing at the end of the production line.
Project team: Siemens Corporate Technologies (principal investigator), Henderson Sewing Machine Company, Yaskawa Motoman, HomTex.
Custom mask manufacturing
The project enables robots to produce custom masks anytime and anywhere. This has increased automation use in an industry that still relies on manual labor.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that cloth masks play a vital role in slowing the spread of the coronavirus, but supply cannot meet demand. Robotic sewing presents a technical challenge because it requires handling flexible materials, fine motor skills, and precise recognition of details.
Project team: Siemens Corporate Technologies (principal investigator), Henderson Sewing Machine Corporation, Sewbo Inc, Bluewater Defense, Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center (ISAIC).
Robotics for manufacturing oversized structures
Pvilion believes this technology will help it better respond to the Department of Defense's needs and produce tents. Robots also reduce the burden on workers. The coronavirus highlighted the need to rapidly deploy negative-pressure spaces. These air-supported structures deploy quickly compared with traditional tents and are well suited for use as expeditionary hospitals, quarantine facilities, and other applications for disaster relief or military purposes.
However, producing such structures is labor-intensive. It can be accelerated with the development of robotics that help production staff move and manipulate heavy and flexible materials. The project aims to develop a fleet of self-aware, human-controlled robotic platforms. The technology will help Pvilion create a 'hospital in a shipping container' that can be set up in 72 hours by a team of 8-10 people.
Project team: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (principal investigator) and Pvilion.
Automating quality assessment in PPE manufacturing
The project created technology that enables rapid expansion of the US industrial base in the medical PPE category. It can be used for liquid penetration, flammability, and impermeability testing. It is also applied in laboratory automation, medical device and biopharmaceutical manufacturing, and even furniture and clothing.
PPE quality control procedures are labor-intensive and time-consuming. Sample testing has become a priority not only at manufacturing plants but also at medical centers. The project aimed to develop a robotic system to automate quality assurance testing for verifying PPE, improving productivity and efficiency in the US.
Project team: Northeastern University (principal investigator), Merrow Manufacturing, and Boston Engineering.
Robotic application of antimicrobial copper coatings
The project resulted in a production-ready semi-automatic cold spray robot that provides self-disinfection of high-touch items. The system is ready to use and easy to configure.
Copper-coated surfaces quickly kill viruses, including the coronavirus, but they have not become widespread due to low demand. The pandemic revealed the need for self-disinfecting surfaces. This will reduce coronavirus spread without the need for frequent cleaning. The robotic antimicrobial copper application system (cold spray) combines a scanner and tools for path generation and quality control to apply copper coating to items such as door handles, hospital benches, carts, handrails, and others.
Project team: Siemens Corporate Technologies (principal investigator), VRC Metals System.
Rapid diagnostics
The system speeds up development of test strips by 2-3 times, improves process quality and reliability, and reduces the number of required technical specialists. The technology can be extended to any test kit development process, scales easily, and helps respond quickly to disease outbreaks such as the coronavirus.
Rapid development of virus tests will significantly support US large-scale testing efforts during the current and future pandemics. Evaluating such test strips requires at least two specialists: one to run the analysis and another to interpret results using analyzers. The project developed a solution using advanced machine vision systems and flexible robots to accelerate test development through automation.
Project team: Siemens Corporate Technologies (principal investigator), Maxim BioMedical Inc, and Siemens Healthineers.
Autonomous robotic spraying and disinfection in warehouses
The system reduces setup time and effort through autonomous area mapping, an intuitive user interface, and a portable work profile accessible from any browser. The technology provides a safe and healthy work environment with minimal impact on operations through automated disinfection procedures using autonomous navigation and reliable visual perception.
Logistics and support operations played a vital role in supporting the country by delivering medical supplies and essential goods to millions of Americans. Controlling the spread of the coronavirus requires more frequent and reliable disinfection. The project developed an autonomous warehouse disinfection system capable of moving automatically, localizing itself, and disinfecting heavily touched surfaces and potentially contaminated areas.
Project team: Siemens Corporate Technologies (principal investigator), FedEx Corporation, Yaskawa Motoman.
Mobile autonomous industrial disinfector
The commercially deployed solution is expected to cost less than $100,000. Disinfecting 929 m² will take eight hours, at a speed of 0.2 m²/s. Due to the rapid evolution of the coronavirus, frequent surface disinfection is required to keep businesses and workplaces safe. Manual cleaning is not ideal, since a person can get sick or transmit the virus.
The project developed an autonomous mobile robot with a mounted multi-axis robotic arm capable of operating both the disinfection system and a set of sensors. The technology identifies areas requiring disinfection, carries out the process, and keeps a record of completed cleaning tasks.
Project team: Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories, GrayMatter Robotics, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Lockheed Martin Rotary Mission Systems.
Mobile multi-room disinfection robot
Schools, offices, military bases, and manufacturing facilities need to be disinfected between shifts to minimize virus spread. The Decon–X (DX1) disinfection system lacks sufficient mobility and autonomy to disinfect rooms without an operator.
The project added mobile autonomous capabilities to the DX1 system to automate sequential processing of multiple rooms and workplace spaces. Adding mobility and autonomous navigation allows the robot to move from room to room and carry out a series of procedures with almost no human intervention.
Project team: QinetiQ North America (principal investigator), MassRobotics.
