For the past four years, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has recognized the most innovative technologies of the year. Among dozens of innovations, it selects the top five technologies that have the potential to transform their field. This year’s 2020 Emerging Technology Awards highlighted technologies that are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guardian Kiosk That Screens Body Temperature and Mask Usage
Many businesses are concerned about keeping both their employees and patrons safe. It is now commonplace to require masks when entering a building. However, it can be difficult to enforce these measures. Advanced Kiosks has created a computer kiosk to monitor public spaces.
The Guardian Kiosk checks if a person is wearing a mask or has an elevated body temperature. This adds an extra layer of security. The kiosk can alert staff or sound an alarm if someone enters the area without authorization. The Guardian Kiosk also has common kiosk features, such as wayfinding, or queue management, so they can be seamlessly integrated into businesses.
The kiosks provide a touchless option in place of traditional RFID card guarded access points. They have facial recognition software, which can scan for identity as well as safety. The facial recognition software works in two phases. First, it scans the image to detect the presence of a human face. Once it detects a face, the software compares the face to a database of known faces. Masks cover a large portion of the face, but there are enough markers outside of the mask area to allow the program to accurately recognize a face.
To gauge body temperature, the kiosks are equipped with thermal cameras or thermopile sensors. This equipment can accurately sense a person’s body temperature from three to five feet away when indoors.
Mobile Biodefense Indoor Air Protection System
One of the complicating factors of COVID-19 is that there is evidence that the virus is airborne. Although the virus spreads via droplets, if these droplets become attached to dust or water vapor, they can travel much farther. This has highlighted the need for effective ventilation in highly populated public areas.
Integrated Viral Protection (IVP) designed a new filter that kills 99.999 percent of COVID-19 viruses and 99.98 percent of anthrax spores instantaneously. IVP calls the filter the Biodefense Indoor Air Protection System. The feature that makes the filter so effective is a layer of foam nickel that is heated to 250 °C. COVID-19 can be killed when heated to 70 °C for five minutes, but at 250 °C, it is killed instantly. Similarly, anthrax spores are killed instantly at 200 °C.
Nickel foam is very porous, which makes it highly effective at trapping particles. It is also thermally conductive, allowing the foam to be heated to a high temperature. After the air passes through the filter, the air temperature drops significantly four centimeters away from the filter. However, to ensure that the air is not heated, the filter is designed to be integrated into air-conditioning units.
The Biodefense Indoor Air Protection Systems can be retrofitted into existing HVAC systems, but IVP also offers a variety of mobile versions. The IPVA Air SI has already been integrated into a school in Miami. It runs quietly and can filter 1,800 cubic feet per minute. This means that it recirculates the classroom air 10 times per hour.
Mobile Autonomous UV-C Disinfection Robot
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the worldwide demand for Ultraviolet Disinfection (UVD) Robots. Blue Ocean Robotics responded to this demand with its third generation UVD Robot. The new robot is more advanced and easier to use. It is also much smaller than previous models yet offers the same disinfection ability. This makes the robot more agile.
The robots navigate using premapped layouts. To run a disinfection program, the operator directs the robot to the area with a smartphone or tablet. The disinfection program takes about 10 minutes to complete. The UV-C light penetrates cell membranes, which destroys the DNA and RNA of microorganisms. This effectively sterilizes the environment.
The robot has many additional intelligent capacities. It can detect objects and surfaces to ensure that they are properly exposed to the UV-C light. It also provides users with a report on its cleaning effectiveness once the disinfection program is complete. Staff can use this information to adjust the robot’s program to optimize its performance.
Recently, the efficacy of the UVD Robots was tested at Dr. Ivo Pedisic General Hospital in Croatia. An operating theater was disinfected for 15 to 20 minutes by an automated UVD Robot. Samples were then taken from furniture in the room. The area showed no signs of infectious organisms. In comparison, a traditionally cleaned room found micro-resistant organisms eight out of ten times.
Autonomous Food Delivery Robot
Person-to-person contact has become a growing concern during the COVD-19 pandemic. Starship Technologies’ self-driving delivery robot allows companies to continue to make deliveries while maintaining social distancing. This has been particularly valuable for delivering food and groceries.
Starship’s robots can deliver 100-pound packages within a four-mile radius. Their contents can be tracked and unlocked via a smartphone. Unlike autonomous cars, the robots drive on the sidewalk at pedestrian speed, not on the road.
The robots navigate differently than self-driving cars. First, a map is created of all the sidewalk networks in the robot’s delivery area. Second, an algorithm generates the most efficient route for the robot. Self-driving cars use LiDAR to track vehicles, pedestrians and other obstacles. However, LiDAR is expensive, so the robots use a multitude of cameras, radar and ultrasonic sensors. The raw data is then interpreted using machine learning.
The fleet of robots helps each other. As they travel, the robots record their surroundings, which are then compared to and combined with the data from other robots. This gives information about what objects and landmarks look like from different angles. This, combined with object detection and avoidance, allows the robots to get to and from their destinations.
Open-Source 3D Printable Face Shields
In response to the shortage of protective wear for medical staff due to COVID-19, Prusa Research created a 3D printable face shield. The design is fully open source, which allows anyone to 3D print and/or modify it.
A potential drawback of homemade personal protective equipment (PPE) is that the gear could have imperfections that cause unforeseen issues. Yet, it is unreasonable to subject every homemade device to certification. The benefit of these open-source instructions is that this mask is certified.
Manufacturers that wish to make these face masks still require certification. However, the process has been streamlined. Prusa offers instructions and guides to help companies avoid pitfalls of the certification process. Or, to speed the certification process further, companies can also license certification from Prusa Research.
This open-source response has allowed the whole 3D printing community to respond to the COVD-19 crisis. Prusa Research has a farm of 3D printers producing 800 masks a day. The total cost of materials needed to produce each mask is only one dollar. This allowed the company to donate 10,000 masks to the Czech Ministry of Health.
Engineering Solutions to COVID-19
The Emerging Technology Awards normally recognize technologies in five engineering fields. However, the ASME editors noticed a common theme in this year’s innovations. All were responding to COVID-19 in some way. We needed engineers to use both their heads and their hearts this year to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, and the community of engineers did not disappoint.