See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/261272517

Design of a robot for hygienization of walls in hospital environments

Conference Paper · June 2014

CITATIONS READS

4 142

2 authors:

Francesco Cepolina Giovanni Gerardo Muscolo

Università degli Studi di Genova Politecnico di Torino
31 PUBLICATIONS   270 CITATIONS    81 PUBLICATIONS   258 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

BRAINHURO View project

MARIS_ View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Giovanni Gerardo Muscolo on 15 January 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Conference ISR ROBOTIK 2014

Design of a robot for hygienization of walls in hospital environments

Francesco E. Cepolina, Giovanni G. Muscolo, Polytechnic School, PMARLab; University of Gen-
oa, Genoa, Italy

Summary / Abstract
The paper describes the methodology applied to the design of a climbing robot that has been conceived and studied to
solve the real task of cleaning the wall surfaces of hospital and clinic nursing home environments. The robot is able to
spray different cleaning and disinfecting liquids for preventing infections.
This robot is light and simple and it is thought to work in a team in order to guarantee a fast and coordinated cleaning
system to all the room walls. It has been conceived, and designed taking into account critical issues in geometric model-
ling and functional requirements involving multiple engineering disciplines which concur to optimize the robot charac-
teristics while reducing the development time.

1 Introduction proposed solution is based on a climbing robot,

Regulations for hospital and nursing environments are
becoming very restrictive and great attention is devoted to
the hygienic conditions as for the health safety of the pa-
tients, visitors and the medical staff [1]. The infections in
health care settings afflict millions patients a year and
their prevention has a great economic and social value [2].
Different levels of cleaning are requested. The market of-
fers many detergents and sanitizing substances. At the
first level wet and dry steam that is effective, eco-
sustainable and cheap is used; high temperature steam not
only cleans, but further, sterilise the surfaces but it is not
able to eliminate some spore and drug resistant bacteria.
They are then removed by spraying disinfecting substance
such as hydrogen peroxide vapour. The complete moni-
toring of the cleaning process offered by the proposed ro-
botized solution constitutes an undisputed report for the
auditing personnel.
Instrumental robots happen to be well known achieve-
ment of intelligent automation, providing appropriate
flexibility in front of varying tasks and adaptivity as for
operation re-setting [3]. The developed technologies can
readily be transferred to new domains, in each case show-
ing the feasibility of service robots [4]; the return on in-
vestments, however, heavily depends on the agreement
levels in the new domains, namely, on the users’ accepta-
tion and the habit keeping abilities. This brings to careful-
ly assess the duty setting, since the starting ideation
phase, having recourse to effective virtual prototyping to
supply task animation with rendering of the (competing)
solutions actual behaviour, in view of assessing, both,
tasks performance and friendliness compatibility.
The paper deals with a properly structured “rule-driven”
duty, say, the cleaning of walls in hospital. The EU bylaw
aims at strict regulations as for work accomplishments
and for registration charges; the resort to robotics, thereaf-
ter, might represent highly effective issue, once the pre-
scriptions are automatically reached and recorded. The
GeckoH13, cleaning and sanitising the walls surfaces.
The combined equipment of a team of GeckoH13 exploits
the sanitizing operation progression, properly recording
the achieved results.
Patients, staff, and visitors entering hospital and other
healthcare facilities carry with them bacteria, viruses, and
other microbes. Because of this, cleaning and disinfecting
are very important steps in preventing the acquisition and
spread of infectious disease in hospital facilities.
Current regulations, e.g. regulations (HSE, 1999; NHSE,
1995; 1989), specialist advice (Expert Advisory Groups
1998; Microbiology Advisory, 1991) and clinical govern-
ance guidance (NHSE, 1998) as well as NHS Healthcare
Cleaning Manual (NHS Estates, 2004) and Code of Prac-
tice on the Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associ-
ated infection (DH, 2006) all provide a framework within
which hospital environmental hygiene can be improved
and monitored [5].
Today it is expected that more cogent standard cleaning,
disinfection and sterilization rules will be stated and some
monitoring and auditing process required [6].
Wall surfaces cleaning involve dirt and dust removal us-
ing vapour and detergents. In some areas of the hospital,
the use of disinfectants is necessary to reduce the risk of
infection. Disinfection is generally defined as reducing
the number of microbes on a surface to very low levels.
Reducing microbial levels involves the use of chemicals,
which have some degree of toxicity, as defined by
Spaulding’s Classification [7].
The higher level of disinfection that correlates with
Spaulding’s classification [8] is sterilization.
We distinguish the three following levels:
1. Cleaning and low level disinfecting is needed in the
hospital environment such as visitors and staff.
Waiting areas that must be visibly clean, free from
dust.

ISBN 978-3-8007-3601-0 © VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach

629
 Conference ISR ROBOTIK 2014

2. Increased levels of cleaning and disinfection should sort to specialised tools and planning out the task se-
be considered in outbreaks of infection, such as pa- quences.
tient rooms, where the pathogen concerned survives
in the environment and environmental contamination
may be contributing to spread.
3. Sterilization of surfaces by using suitable chemicals
(e.g. hypochlorite) and similar chemical detergent is
considered in outbreaks of infection, such as surgical
suites, where the pathogen concerned survives in the
environment and environmental contamination may
be contributing to spread.

The robot GeckoH13 has been designed to be used for all

these different cleaning levels: Different tanks are dedi-
cated to different detergent liquids.
The robot minimizes the use of cleaning liquid and more-
over the embedded system for the recovery of the dirty
liquid after the local cleaning operation guarantees the
reduction of the detergent spread.
The robotized cleaning process has the advantage that it
can easily produce undisputed report on the process per-
formed in terms of hours detergent and temperature em-
ployed for possible auditing.
Further well established robotized cleaning procedures
will avoid the confusion, which can lead to multiple disin-
fectants being used or surfaces unnecessarily being disin-
fected. These automated practice results in a reduced use
of pesticides, exposure risk for staff and patients, and
avoid potential for spreading antimicrobial resistance.

2 Design methodology
The climbing robot design requires the initial detailed de-
scription of the structural and functional requirements,
inferred from the scheduled duties (e.g. steam cleaning,
sanitising) and the supporting functions (e.g., suction cups
mechanism for path tracking).
The flow diagram, Figure 1, provides an overview of the
steps, from initial guesses, concept lay-outs, preliminary
assemblies, to final set-ups with properly assessed control Figure 1 Flow diagram of the robot ideation/development
performances. The current exploitation of digital mock- scheme
ups covers structural and functional details, with due con-
cern of the actuation and servicing fixtures; the testing in
virtual reality provides sample restitutions of robots-at-
work sequences, showing the appropriateness of the de- 3 GeckoH13 design
vised equipment. The wall cleaning robot is named GeckoH13 from its pre-
Modern CAD development tools are fit out with special decessor Gecko designed for the cleaning of community
modules, further to standard solid modellers, to supply kitchen [9]. GeckoH13 has limited navigation capability:
virtual prototyping and task animation, with proper range it is able only to move on plane surfaces by Cartesian co-
of rendering to make easy the checks on the technological ordinates. It is dedicated to a wall or a ceiling cleaning
compatibility of new (competing) solutions. operation.
The procedure is iterated, until satisfactory solutions are A description of robot hardware and functional character-
found out. GeckoH13 is particularly innovative: in a istics is given all along the integrated design process.
compact frame, it embeds a steam generator and ejector The main subsystem choices of this robot are hereafter
for sanitising and dirt plus used liquid recovering, and a shortly addressed.
mobility apparatus with pneumatic sticking means; the
focus on the structural lay-out and on the climbing capa- 3.1 Geometry and shape
bilities gives hints on the benefits achieved by having re- A good compromise is achieved considering that for
economy reasons and for easy sticking; a reduced size is

ISBN 978-3-8007-3601-0 © VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach

630
 Conference ISR ROBOTIK 2014
welcomed, even if a large base area (and a high speed of
the vehicle) helps shortening the required time for clean-
ing up. A round robot makes simple the spinning, but
hinders the cleaning of regions near corners. A rectangu-
lar one solves the last problem: as a result it has been de-
cided to use a square shape because it has the smallest pe-
rimeter, once the area is fixed, so minimising cleaning
liquid and vacuum losses.
Further, for the same translational speed, the sanitizing
rate does not depend on the direction.
The trouble about body spinning has been overcome giv-
ing the robot two perpendicular straight movements. Ul-
timately, GeckoH13 has a box shape with a 300 mm
square base, while its total mass is around 6 kg, Figure 2a.
3.2 Sustentation
After an investigation on the several possibilities for hold-
ing up, it has been decided to use rigid vacuum cups (cho-
sen from the market); all the cups are endowed with a pair
of automatic suspensions which press or retract the cups
against the wall Figure 2b.
(a)
(b)
Figure 2 GeckoH13 under the cover (a) and bottom view
(b)
ISBN 978-3-8007-3601-0
631
3.2.1 Vacuum creation
The vacuum is created by two commercial pumps, operat-
ing in parallel to enhance reliability, having overall
weight of 0.7 kg, and max vacuum of -800 mbar.
3.2.2 Valves
Three electrical 3-way valves are adopted: in fact, as the
two static cups work synchronously, only one valve is
needed for their managing. The valves are connected to
three ducts and this allow to create vacuum in the cup or
to forward part of the steam used for cleaning inside the
cup for an easier detachment.
3.2.3 Suspension of the cups
When the robot moves, only one cup is hanged to the
wall. To avoid slipping of the three idle cups, they must
not be in contact with the surface; actuators might be de-
voted to this task, but this implies more weight and com-
plex control. A mechanism which could move forth and
back the cups, exploiting the power of the vacuum pump
has been ideated, Figure 3a. Basically, it consists of two
chambers crossed by a hollow rod with three polar series
of holes strategically placed; when no vacuum is applied,
a spring holds the cup up; as vacuum is created in the up-
per chamber, the rod goes down, till the cup touch the
wall and in the meantime the holes assume a configura-
tion such that the vacuum flows in the second camera and
from this enters in the rod and in the cup at the end (Fig-
ure 3b). Figure 3c shows the mechanism implemented on
the suction cups.
3.3 Locomotion
It has been decided to use four rigid vacuum cups; two of
them are fixed to the robot frame, the other two are
properly guided by linear actuators.
The translational movement of the two orthogonal cups is
fulfilled by means of linear motors; here, for economy,
the translation of each cup is obtained combining an elec-
tric motor which after an initial speed reduction through a
worm/wheel gear, rotate a second worm which drives the
arm bearing the cup (Figure 4). The DC motors have a
power of about 200 W, at a speed of 7,000 rpm; the pitch
of the worm is 12 mm, so for the desired arm speed of 75
mm/s a gear with i=19 is required. The actuation system
allows GeckoH13 to move upward, downward, left and
right, without the need of robot body rotation. To produce
a horizontal translation of the robot, e.g. from left to right,
Figure 4, the following steps are completed: - depression
of the right suction cup only; - translation of the arm hav-
ing the suction cup depressurised (the robot moves from
left to right); - depression of all the suction cups; - depres-
sion of all the suction cups except the right suction cup; -
movement of the suction cup arm from left to right; itera-
tion of the above cycle.
3.4 Hygenization process
GeckoH13 cleans the walls using different kind of clean-
ing liquids beyond steam. The liquid is sprayed to the sur-
face of the wall through nozzles, see Figure 5a: a special
© VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach
 Conference ISR ROBOTIK 2014

skirt along the underneath perimeter of the robot prevents

detergent spreading in the environment. Micro-channels
recover the dirty liquid and a pump collects it in a tank. In
effect to make as compact as possible the robot a unique
tank is built up: as the detergent leaves, a fence moves
and create a room for the dirty liquid storage.
The liquid is drained by a pump from a tank and forward-
ed to an electric resistance boiler; here, steam at 120 °C is
generated and sprayed to the surface of the wall through
nozzles. Figure 5a, b show the steam cleaning tank. The
same feature is used for alternative tanks dedicated to dif-
ferent hygiene liquids. The tanks are easy removable for
maintenance and for changing the cleaning substance as (a)
required by the cleaning cycle.
Because of the high rate of steam production (about 2
g/s), a fast lock-unlock device for tank extraction and re-
filling is provided.

(a)
(b)
Figure 4 Driving system of the arm supporting an active
cup (a). Right ward movement schematic (b).

(a)
(b)

(c)
Figure 3 Automatic suspensions (a) and working princi-
ple (b) implementation of the mechanism (c)
(c)
Figure 5 Nozzle (a), and exploded view of the tank (b).
The separator and the inlet/outlet ducts are evident.
The apparatus for dirt and dirty liquid, used in the wall
cleaning process, embeds suitable piping as shown in
Figure 6. Virtual check on the piping correct layout for

ISBN 978-3-8007-3601-0 © VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach

632
 Conference ISR ROBOTIK 2014

suction effectiveness was done, based on special 3D CAD material, have been performed in order to know the robot
modules. dynamic behaviour in different operative conditions and
to correctly size the motors power.
Hereafter are presented and commented the results re-
ferred to the robot stepping up in a smooth wall during a
sanitizing operation. Figure 8 shows the Pro/Mechanica
model with the constraints for a climbing step up on the
wall.

Figure 6 Views of the GeckoH13 suction piping of dirty

liquid

3.5 GeckoH13 functional analysis

The motion analysis of the climbing robot was performed
following the integrated scheme of kinematics, statics and
dynamics as indicated in Figure 7. Kinematics and statics
modules are trivial.

Figure 8. Schema of GeckoH13 model in Pro/Mechanica

The smoothed motion law shown in figure 9a has been
adopted: the acceleration gradually rises till the mid run
then gradually reduces till the run end. The corresponding
position and velocity laws are without discontinuities.
Figure 7 Schema of the integrated functional analysis The more critical area for the suction cup adherence is at
The dynamic analysis of the robot has been realized with the mid of the run.
the Pro/Mechanica tool in realistic cleaning conditions. The relative results are presented in Figure 9.
The reference model is synthetically described by: The force exerted by the suction cup on the wall is always
positive and its trend is reported in Figure 9b. The contact
between robot and wall is guaranteed all along the run of
  M    T  the arm actuating the suction cup. Obviously the static
 ,q    q   Q 
A
 force (t=0) is the highest and this force reduces till the run
        (1) end, when the only suction cup working is under the low-

  ,q  0    er side of the robot skirt and the robot tends to turn over.
The inverse dynamics results gave information also about
the force due to the actuator on the suction cup, see Figure
9c. The power of the actuators is selected taking into ac-
count this force maximum value and maximum speed.
Where: The (side) skidding of the robot during the up step is very
M is the matrix of generalized inertias of the multibody limited: for a step of 160 mm and a friction of 0.15 is 1,4
system micron (Figure 9d)
A
Q is the vector or active forces appied to the q
components.
q is the vector of the generalized coordinates
 ,q  is the Jacobian matrix of the system
 
 is the Lagrangiam multiplier vector
 is a vector depending on q , q , t

Many simulations for direct and inverse dynamics during

stepping up/down and stepping side (symmetric), in the
case of different friction liked to the wall and cleaning

ISBN 978-3-8007-3601-0 © VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach

633
 Conference ISR ROBOTIK 2014

200 3.6 Programming

180
The aim of the present study is to develop a sturdy, safe
160
and reliable contrivance for hygenization of dirty walls,
140
Acceleration [mm/s2]

120
with high reliability and low life cycle costs. The robotic
100
system shall execute pre-programmed cleaning tasks not
80
involving trained personnel, the human/machine interface
60
being very simple and friendly at the lower (execution)
40 level. Only slight changes to existing lay-outs will be
20 necessary for using the GeckoH13, for the special subset
0 of selected tasks.
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1
Time [s]
1,2 1,4 1,6 1,8 2
In case of cleaning made by a robotic team, as here pro-
posed, the cleaning procedures are “a priori” defined and
(a) customized to the environment by a cleaning expert oper-
ator who has the task to plan the cleaning cycles, taking
80 into account the environment topology, geometry, doors,
70
windows and tools and the different subsequent cleaning
and sanitizing requirements.
Force vacuum-cup wall [N]

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2 1,4 1,6 1,8 2
Time [s]

(b)

46

44

42
(a)
Acceleration [mm/s2]

40

38 Clock
36

34
Dirt
32 levels
30
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2 1,4 1,6 1,8 2
Time [s]

(c) Current
cleaning
0
state
-0,2
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2 1,4 1,6 1,8 2 indicators
-0,4

-0,6
(b)
Skidding [mmx10-3]

-0,8
Figure 10 Wall mapped in cleaning units and user inter-
-1
face (b)
-1,2

-1,4
The virtual reality tests move from a general lay-out of
-1,6
the hospital or surgery room, established in keeping with
-1,8
the specification of tidy-up a sanitising requirements for
-2
the walls; this mapping and job assignment is organised
Time [s] into matrices, Figure 10a, so that duty change or reloca-
tion are easily done, also, in view of optimising the lay-
(d)
out and/or the scheduling (both, in terms of cleaning spe-
cial needs or of cleaning up cycles). A sample study is
Figure 9 Dynamic analysis for one climbing step: accel-
recalled. Four dirtiness levels are assumed, requiring a
eration of the frame (a); force of a suction cup on the wall
three steps cycle: descaling, washing, sanitising (disinfec-
(b) and force due to the actuator (c); robot skidding (d)

ISBN 978-3-8007-3601-0 © VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach

634
 Conference ISR ROBOTIK 2014
tion); these are possibly established according to previous
tests or are directly recognised by robot sensors.
The dirtiness mapping leads to a distribution of tiles in a
two-dimension pattern of temporary objects (with: loca-
tion, size, etc. main and dirty level, etc. variable proper-
ty), Figure 10b. The mapping is timely up-dated and the
statistical data are computed in simulation, before the
room cleaning task program freezing and then executing.
4 Conclusions
The GeckoH13 robot was designed taking into account
the experience gained in previous service and climbing
robots design. Analysis, design and control directly avail
of standard CAD codes centred on the Pro/ENGINEER
software.
Tests on the robot static and dynamic behaviour were
done on virtual mock-ups. The capabilities of the robot
different control actions in order to reach the cleaning
goal in typical hospital environments were evaluated by
simulation during the design process and used to improve
the robotic solution. Feasibility and performances of a
cleaning system using GeckoH13 were analysed in a vir-
tual typical hospital environment. The graphic animation
of the cleaning process helped for evaluating the feasibil-
ity of the proposed design, for the set-up of the control
strategy and for the standard cleaning cycles definition
with the help of final users.
The design aimed at developing the main structural com-
ponents (in order to assess, both, configuration feasibility
and functional effectiveness), with joint acknowledge-
ment of the operation friendliness, by presenting the task
progression through virtual reality restitution. Design re-
quests are closely examined, focusing on a pertinent mul-
timedia displaying of the operation abilities of the climb-
ing robot, GeckoH13, conceived, with several technologi-
cal innovations respect to the parent Gecko. The robot
sticks to surfaces by means of suction cups, is able to ac-
complish 2D paths and performs the cleaning by steam
and disinfecting liquids jets. The paper covers structural
and functional details, with due concern of actuation and
servicing fixtures; sample restitution of robots-at-work
engagements show the technical appropriateness of the
suggested equipment.
Robotized cleaning and disinfecting helps healthcare fa-
cilities ensure adequate infection prevention, while reduc-
ing cleaning times, minimizing patient and staff expo-
sures to toxic chemicals, and reducing procurement costs.
5 Acknowledgements
The author would like to thanks Electrolux EURO-
CLEAN Italia SpA.
6 Literature
[1] Al-Hamad, A and Maxwell, S, How clean is clean?
Proposed methods for hospital cleaning assessment,
Journal of Hospital Infection, Vol.70, N.4, pp.328-
334, 2008
ISBN 978-3-8007-3601-0
View publication stats
635
[2] B. Falcidieno, M. Spagnuolo, P. Alliez, E. Quak, E.
Vavalis, C. Houstis, “Towards the semantics of digital
shapes: the AIM@SHAPE approach”, European
Workshop on the Integration of Knowledge, Semantic
and Digital Media Technologies Royal Statistical So-
ciety, London, November 25-26, 2004
[3] H. Endres, W. Feiten, G. Lawitsky: “Field test of nav-
igation systems: autonomous cleaning in supermar-
kets”, IEEE Intl. Conf. Robotics and Automation,
Leuven, May, 1998.
[4] F. Cepolina, R.C. Michelini, R.M. Molfino, R.P.
Razzoli “Domestic-chores automation: multi-media
analysis and assessment study”, Proc. XI ADM Intl.
Conf. on Design Tools and Methods in Industrial En-
gineering, vol. C, pp. 139-146, Palermo, 8-12 Dec.
1999
[5] Dancer, Stephanie J “Importance of the environment
in met cillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
acquisition: the case for hospital cleaning, The Lancet
infectious diseases”, Vol.8, N.2, pp. 101—113, 2008
[6] Cohen, Stuart H and Gerding, Dale N and Johnson,
Stuart and Kelly, Ciaran P and Loo, Vivian G and L
Clifford McDonald, MD and Pepin, Jacques and
Wilcox, Mark H “Clinical practice guidelines for
Clostridium difficile infection in adults: 2010 update
by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of
America (SHEA) and the Infectious Diseases Society
of America (IDSA)”,Infection control and hospital
epidemiology, Vol.31, N.5, pp. 431—455, 2010
[7] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
“Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in
Health-Care Facilities. Recommendations of CDC and
the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory
Committee (HICPAC), Atlanta, GA 30333, 2003
[8] Rebarber, Arthur and Spaulding, Laura and Wiese,
Eugene, “Broad spectrum antimicrobial system for
hard surface cleaners”, US Patent 4,867,898, Google
Patents, 1989
[9] Cepolina, F., Michelini, RC., Molfino, RM., Razzoli,
RP “Collie-Gecko: a co-operative multi-robot system
for cleaning applications“, Proc. 3rd CLAWAR, 2000
© VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach