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The start-up, which has its origins at Trinity College Dublin, previously deployed disinfection and air cleaning robots to hospitals in 2020 and 2022 respectively.
Dublin-based start-up Akara Robotics has provided two UV decontamination robots to a UK hospital to clean wards and operating theatres.
The business, which spun out of Trinity College Dublin (TCD), will aid staff at the Friarage Hospital in cleaning its wards and operating theatres more efficiently and in a quicker amount of time.
It is arguably best known for its robot creation known as Stevie, which is designed to be an assistant in elder care facilities.
The decontamination robots, which won the best newcomer award at the Infection Prevention Society Conference 2024, can now be seen in the hospital’s clinical decisions unit, wards and operating theatres.
In 2021, Akara trialled cleaning robots at Midlands Regional Hospital Tullamore. In 2022, the company took cleaning robots to the UK in a trial at the endoscopy unit of Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
For the new set-up on the Friarage, frontline staff at the hospital and Akara have created a specialised workflows app with the aim of removing the need for paper checklists and to provide real-time alerts when rooms are available, in an effort to improve efficiency.
Niamh Donnelly, Akara’s co-founder and chief robotics officer, said that Akara’s robots build on more than a decade of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) research conducted at TCD.
Explaining how the two robots function, Donnelly added: “Unique AI capabilities give our robots the ability to operate autonomously, which enables them to navigate and decontaminate clinical rooms based on a programme of cleaning instructions that they are given.
“We are extremely proud to see our robots working in a hospital setting. It’s wonderful to know that they are making a real difference in helping to keep patients safe and serves as great vindication for all the hard work the team has put in over the years.”
James Dunbar, consultant in infection and general medicine and chair of the Friarage Clinical Collaborative, said: “Microbes with resistance to antibiotics are probably the biggest emerging challenge in healthcare today. Our main defence is cleaning and decontamination. Last year our pilot study using Akara technology had amazing results.”
Akara has also announced plans to expand its presence in the US healthcare market, while simultaneously scaling operations in Europe. In addition, the company is preparing to formally launch a new product next year.
Earlier this year, Akara was accepted into the Techstars Healthcare Accelerator in Los Angeles. Following the successful completion of their first trial in a US hospital, Akara has gained early traction in the American market.
The company was among those recognised in the prestigious Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe ranking published in April.
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