Robo-uv walczy z koronawirusem – wynalazek studenta UŁ

Deepjyoti Nath, a student of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Lodz, has constructed a robot to help fight against the spread of COVID-19. The project received the first prize during the "Vision of Development Forum" in Gdynia and was appreciated by the Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The work of the Indian student of the University of Lodz can now assist hospitals and other strategic locations in the struggle against the epidemic.

 

Meet Robo-uv

Deepjyoti Nath has invented Robo-uv - a fully autonomous disinfecting robot.  It can map its surroundings, be summoned on demand or have waypoints set on a map and a scheduled time, disinfect and return to its charging station.

It runs on the Robot Operating System, which is used also by Google and Tesla. The robot project was appreciated during the "Vision of Development Forum" and the Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki expressed his interest in introducing it to Polish hospitals as soon as possible.

Disinfection...with light

Deepjyoti Nath has noted that contracting infections in hospitals is so common that 8.9 million people across Europe are affected each year, a cost of €5.5 billion a year.

The measures applied at the moment rely on alcohol-based solutions that must remain on the surface for several hours for perfect disinfection. This means that it is virtually impossible to continuously disinfect the entire environment.  Alcohol also cannot be used to disinfect the air, which contains a significant amount of viruses.

The Robo-uv, by contrast, uses UV-C light to disinfect surfaces and air. Until now this method has been used in laboratories to disinfect equipment and tools. UV-C light is harmful for humans, but not for robots. This way Robo-uv becomes an extremely valuable ally in the fight against coronavirus.

Big magic from a small town

Deepjyoti Nath came from India to study computer science at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science of the University of Lodz. He started his studies at the University of Lodz in 2016. After his second year, he wanted to try something different and started working as a software engineer for MicroStrategy.  He returned to the University of Lodz a year ago.

I come from a very small town in India. I was never good at sports. My father got me a computer when I was 10.  You could do almost anything with it - it was all magic to me.  Then I realised I wanted to learn that magic. So I learnt to code by reading books, watching videos, making simple calculators and then playing games - writes Deepjyoti Nath about his love for computer science.


University of Lodz is one of the biggest universities in Poland. Its mission is to educate top-class scientists and specialists in numerous fields of humanities, social sciences, natural and exact sciences as well as health sciences. UniLodz cooperates with business, both at the staff level by providing qualified employees as well as at the scientific level, by offering its know-how to enterprises from various areas of economy. University of Lodz is an academic institution open to the world – the number of its international students is constantly growing, while its Polish students, thanks to Exchange programmes, get to know Europe, Asia and travel overseas. The University is a part of Lodz, it operates for and with the community of Lodz by getting involved in many socio-cultural projects.

Edit: Promotion Centre, UL