“Violet™” Robotic UV-C: A New Standard for Healthcare Room Disinfection​

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I have been a facilities Director for 25 years, always on the lookout for innovative and effective solutions that can help maintain a safe and healthy environment for our staff, visitors, and residents. In recent times, we have had outbreaks of not only COVID-19 but several other nasty bugs, emphasizing that the need for disinfection has become even more critical. We have been exploring assorted options for disinfection in hospitals and assisted living facilities and after extensive market research and testing, I found UV-C solutions to be best for room disinfection, but all solutions in the market were too slow – requiring a large amount of manual intervention, or too expensive to automate disinfection with an autonomous robot.​

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Then I learned about “Violet™” the UV-C Disinfecting Robot provided by ClearFocus Robotics and manufactured by Haystack Robotics.​

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Violet™ is an open-the-box and ready to go product – the user experience is incredible. Training is a 30-minute process either in person or online. While other UV-C robots on the market have a user interface that looks like a space shuttle control center, the Violet™ is so simple a child could operate it.​

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Let me share some numbers. It takes two EVS workers 45 minutes to completely disinfect a contaminated room, while the robot can do the same room in under 10 minutes – a time savings of 35 minutes per room. Furthermore, the robot can go in and disinfect the room even before sending in staff thus addressing staff safety. This means I need only one EVS worker to perform a terminal clean. After the robot has completed one room, it can simply start the next room while our staff member can clean the room it just left with a much higher sense of safety and protection from any contaminations that may have been present before the robot went to work.​

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These improvements in efficiency meant we were able to reduce our FTE budget. This was incredibly easy, as we could never keep these positions staffed to begin with. Moreover, the robot shows up to work on time in any weather with no complaints and works for less than $5 an hour. With all this considered, we project the ROI for this UV-C robot to be less than 1 year.​

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Just a few other advantages we have seen from Violet™:​

• I like the fact that Violet™ comes with a hand-held tablet which creates a map of the areas being disinfected. The map is room number, time and date stamped for record keeping purposes. Additionally, you can audit the effectives of the UV-C by placing low-cost ultraviolet dosimeters in the room. Dosimeter technology will verify the effectiveness of the UV-C for the areas that have being disinfected. ​

• Equipped with A.I. technology, Violet™ can scan and map in real-time and will disinfect a typical patient room in just 10 minutes.​

• Violet™ has an A.I. driven “follow me” feature which at the touch of a button will follow the operator from room to room.​

• Places often missed, like offices and exam rooms allow you to disinfect more often or on a schedule at night.​

• Built-in safety features to enter a safe mode if people enter the room during disinfection.​

• Incredibly user friendly – I can train workers to use it in 15 minutes or less, and they also love using the robot.​

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Lastly, I would also like to say that working with the ClearFocus staff was a pleasure and they are incredibly responsive. When you sit down and weigh the risks, the price, and staffing shortages, this robot is an easy decision for any healthcare facility. CFI offered several options for financing, however we paid for it with a grant. ​

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Conclusion:​

I believe that investing in this technology from CFI/Haystack will help us stay ahead of the curve and ensure that we are taking all necessary measures to keep our facilities safe and healthy for our staff, visitors, and customers. The cost-benefit and ROI is better than any other room disinfection product on the market. It has been a pleasure working with CFI/Haystack on this deployment and I look forward to more deployments soon.