Labor shortages, coupled with a resurgence of the pandemic, are wreaking havoc with building service contractors, janitorial staff and their supply chains. Luckily, for maintenance staff, robots are coming to the rescue.
 
OhmniLabs says its OhmniClean UV-C disinfection robot can alleviate shortages and improve cleaning for critical facilities such as hospitals and health care units. The company debuted its technology to the professional cleaning industry at ISSA Show in November. 
 
“The reception was great,” recalled OhmniLabs Executive Director Robert Hess. “We had hundreds of people come by our stand, captured 75 leads and had two orders.”
 
Most of those leads, 80%, were from commercial cleaners looking to provide add-on UV-C services. Some already had UV-C disinfecting devices, but were looking for autonomous solutions. Others had stationary UV-C devices, but were looking to save worker cost, recalled Hess.
 
“You still need traditional cleaning to remove dirt,” he explained. “What you’re replacing are electrostatic sprayers and humans using UVC lamps. For those cleaning staffs still using older, stationary UVC equipment, our robot can cut disinfection time by 50%.”
 
Hess said the Ohmnilabs’ robot saves users 70% in service and maintenance fees over traditional UVC devices. Each robot costs $72,000, but companies can opt to pay a monthly fee of $5,000, according to Hess. Thus far, hospitals have been the primary customer for OhmniLabs. The company sold 20 units in Vietnam for $1,000,000, when covid-19 was ravaging the company. In the US, OhmniLabs is field-testing the robots at Stanford University, which is looking to rent 10-16 units on a monthly basis, the company said.

While ultraviolet light has been used as a disinfectant for decades, UV-C has been proven to reduce overall bacterial counts on high-touch surfaces. Furthermore, research shows that the covid-19 virus is highly vulnerable to this form of UV light and can be inactivated using OhmniClean's autonomous UV-C Disinfection solution. Independent testing shows that OhmniClean's continuous 254nm UV-C Disinfection solution rapidly eliminates pathogens like MRSA, VRE, P. aeruginosa, E. coli and SARS-CoV-2 with an efficacy of 99.999%. This ensures a safer, cleaner environment for users, staff and visitors. 

Hospital and custodial workers have been impacted by harmful chemicals found in deep cleaning products for years. There is a critical need in the healthcare, education and hospitality markets to ensure a sterile and safe environment for their patrons, students and staff.

“The OhmniClean robot is incredibly easy to use,” said Hector Garcia, president of ProClean Janitorial. “My team was able to get it up and running after just 10 minutes of training. The robot's autonomy allows our staff to clean multiple rooms while the robot disinfects other areas of a property. The whole process is quick and efficient.”
 
OhmniLabs, based in San Jose, CA, was founded in 2015 by robotics experts Jared Go, Tingxi Tan and serial entrepreneur Thuc Vu, graduates of Carnegie Mellon University and Stanford University, respectively. Over the years, the company has deployed more than 3,000 robots in 48 countries. All the robots are produced in the US using proprietary 3D printing processes.

OhmniLabs’ timing is perfect. According to a study by ReportLinker, global cleaning robot sales will nearly triple to $20.3 billion by 2025. Why such an interest in all things robotic? Hess noted that there are many variables when humans mix and apply chemicals.

“We’ve heard that there is 36% efficacy at removing bacteria and viruses with manual cleaning. Our technology is 99.9% effective, but you still need to clean to remove physical dirt,” he explained.
While lab tests haven’t revealed all the data, OmniLabs executives are confident that the Ohmnirobot eliminates some of the most difficult to kill pathogens, including MRSA and C. dif. 
For now, OmniLabs is focused on the healthcare market, but in the future, company executives envision their robots can be used for more mundane tasks like on-site supply deliveries at hospitals and other healthcare facilities. One place you’ll never find UV-C robots is in the home.

“UV-C light is too dangerous for at-home use,” insisted Hess. “There are claims that the light is safe for humans, but so far, tests have only been conducted on rats.”

As the OmniLabs team works on the next iteration of Ohmnirobots, company executives are already making plans to attend ISSA Show in 2022.

“We got quality leads at the ISSA show,” said Hess. “We had an email campaign with a 100% open rate. So far, we can’t complain. The market for intelligent disinfection is growing. It is a revolutionary idea.”