Can robots help stop the Ebola outbreak?

WASHINGTON: The US military has enlisted a new germ-killing weapon in the fight against Ebola — a four-wheeled robot that can disinfect a room in minutes with pulses of ultraviolet light.
Resembling a taller, skinnier version of R2D2 from “Star Wars,” the robots are operating at three military medical centers and about 250 other American hospitals are using the machines to destroy pathogens.
Sending out 1.5 pulses per second in a 10-foot radius, the robots use xenon, a non-toxic gas, to create the ultraviolet rays that eradicate germs faster and more thoroughly than any human cleaning crew, doctors and officials said.
“The robot is currently part of our Ebola mitigation strategy, but will be used across the hospital to combat a variety of other pathogens known to cause hospital acquired infections,” said Alton Dunham, a spokesman for Langley Air Force Base, which acquired one of the robots in October.
Although ultraviolet light has been around for decades as a tool for cleaning, the new robot uses environmentally-friendly xenon instead of mercury-vapor bulbs that are slower-acting and toxic, according to Texas-based Xenex Disinfection Service, which manufactures the machines.
Researchers say the disinfecting bot is just one example of how autonomous devices could play a crucial role in the fight against the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
At a conference this month organized by the White House linking up universities across the country, scientists and aid workers concluded that robots could help haul contaminated waste or enable health workers to remotely interview patients.