Applications

COVID-19 has left high traffic businesses, such as hospitals, hotels, and transit authorities, with an urgent need for safe and efficient sanitation processes. UV light has been proven to remove COVID-19 from surfaces, but only with the correct dosage of UV. This technology provides a software program for UV robots to maximize efficiency and efficacy of UV robots. This software first performs a 3D mapping operation or a room, optimizing the path to maximize surface coverage. It then allocates dosage of UV light according to the path and areas in shadow. This technology significantly reduces human error in sanitation of rooms and surfaces, while still allowing for manual modification. The software is compatible with all UV sanitizing robots, requiring one-time customization for different robots. This technology could be used across the board, from arenas to schools. It is the first program of its kind that uses mapping to both optimize path planning and effectively assign dosage for shadowed or high touch areas to effectively eradicate COVID-19 and other viruses on surfaces.

Researchers at University of Illinois have developed an autonomous UV disinfection robot (UVBot) that can navigate spaces such as insides of homes, classrooms, corridors, shops, and interior of buses. This will enable communities to safely re-open with disinfection measures in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 through surface transmission. The UVBot uses low-cost manufacturing methods and carries custom-developed navigation software. Its total cost is less than commercial UV lamp robots. With appropriate path plan and speed, it is designed to disinfect all types of utility surfaces. A smart phone application allows users to control the robot remotely, check disinfection map, and add virtual walls in the map. Exposure time and distance for inactivation of 99.9% of Tulane virus, a single stranded RNA virus, similar to coronavirus, have been determined for use with the UBVot. Any organization with minimal engineering capabilities will be able to reproduce the UVBot system.

Professor Dahmen and collaborators have developed a method for determining failure stress and other mechanical properties of materials using a conventional nanoindentation instrument. This method relies on a model previously developed by Prof. Dahmen's group which assumes solid materials contain elastically coupled weak spots that can slip in response to an applied load. These slips can be seen as jumps in nanoindenter displacement which can be further characterized to determine failure stress and other mechanical properties. Using this model, the high throughput screening of the relative brittleness of materials can be accomplished in as little as 10 measurements in an effectively non-destructive fashion. Additionally, this versatile method can be applied to amorphous and crystalline solids, such as bulk metallic glasses, high entropy alloys, and a large number of other solids.

Dr. Gabriel Weaver and collaborators have developed a cyber/physical disruption model for shipping port operations that allows port authorities to anticipate, prepare and avoid damages from various different disruptive events, both malicious and natural. This model has been improved with the integration of expansive data sets to ensure model reliability and accuracy. The invention is a software to measure economic impacts of cyber/physical disruptions to port operations. It can be used to bolster port security by identifying points of weakness as well as improve training on how to respond to crises that may occur. It includes cyber disruptions which are currently neglected in port security efforts as evidenced by recent malware attacks. It also estimates economic impact for the port and the end stakeholders. This will be of special interest to port insurers, commanders, the US Coast Guard and other security agencies as well as the shipping companies that depend on smooth port logistics to move their freight efficiently.