https://www.enca.com/promotions/robots-bringing-hope-amidst-covid-19-uncertainty

Nexmed Healthcare Solutions is the strategic partner to UV-D Robots and GoBe Robots for Sub-Saharan Africa.

With level 3 lockdown implemented, many industries have opened with individuals returning to some degree of normality. Schools are gearing up to re-open, airports are opening for domestic travel and many businesses will open their doors to customers once again. At the same time hospitals around South Africa are preparing for spikes in COVID-19.

Amidst this looms a great deal of uncertainty around safety relating to the contraction of COVID-19, coupled with an enormous burden on the part of the economy to present safe environments for individuals and employees. To assist in mitigating this uncertainty and to provide a high level of protection against COVID-19 and all other known pathogens, Nexmed Healthcare Solutions have brought the world’s first and most advanced UV-C Robot to Africa, namely the UV-D Robot.

Nexmed Healthcare Solutions is the strategic partner to UV-D Robots and GoBe Robots for Sub-Saharan Africa. The UV-D Robot is capable of destroying all known pathogens, like Ebola, MRSA, E.Coli, CRE (Klebsiella Pneumoniae) Candida Albicans, and C.Diff. among others, up to 99.999%. It is utilized around the world in more than 50 countries, including China, Spain, and America. “The UV-D Robot is currently the number one recommended UV-C device around the world, with multiple clinical studies backing its ability to destroy pathogens”, says Jonathan Burger, CEO of Nexmed Healthcare Solutions.

It has been listed multiple times by Forbes as one of the top next-gen technologies in the fight against COVID-19. The UV-D Robot has won multiple awards honoring its collaboration between science and robotics; the most notable being the following:

2020

• Blue Ocean Robotics and subsidiaries UV-D Robots, GoBe Robots named “European Champion” in the development and commercialization of service robots for professionals (B2B) by Frost & Sullivan.
• Blue Ocean Robotics and UVD Robots wins the European Robot Industry Award, “euRobotics Tech Transfer Award, 2020”.
• Blue Ocean Robotics and subsidiaries UV-D Robots, GoBe Robots awarded with participation in Tech Tour Growth 50, which is a shortlist of Europe’s leading super-scale companies in the tech industry.

2019

• Blue Ocean Robotics and UV-D Robots wins one of the robotics industry’s biggest international awards, the IERA Award 2019
• Blue Ocean Robotics is a finalist in the competition to become Robot Company of the Year in Denmark
• Technology Denmark honors Blue Ocean Robotics for its contribution to the Enterprise Pact to attract and develop talent

2016

• Blue Ocean Robotics is in the top 3 of the Startup World Award for UV-D Robots at the AUTOMATICA Fair in Munich

Given that the UV-D Robot is a “real robot” and not a static device, it is able to rapidly disinfect areas autonomously, leaving it near sterile each time. The UV-D Robot utilizes 8 full-length UV-C lamps providing a 360-degree coverage of an area. The remote moves around the area in close proximity to surface areas allowing maximum exposure to UV-C light. The lamps used are germicidal lamps capped at 253.7nm which is the known germicidal range.

“It is important to note that the UV-D Robot does not clean or sanitize, but disinfects (decontaminates), which is the total removal of harmful pathogens, not just the reduction of them,” says Burger.

There are many alternatives out there today like fogging or spraying which use chemicals to decontaminate. The process is like that of fumigation and requires that there be no occupants in the room while the process is carried out. It also prohibits individuals from entering the room for at least 2-6 hours post sanitization.

Unlike these alternatives, the UV-D Robot requires no harmful chemicals. It is able to decontaminate a 25m2 area in under 10 minutes, allowing minimal interruption to operations, and its disinfection is validated via proprietary software. Occupants can enter the room immediately after decontamination and there is no risk of exposure to fumes or chemical residue with the UV-D Robot.

For hospitals where patients occupy a room and are unable to leave the room, we offer a UV-C impenetrable shield that acts as a barrier, allowing the decontamination of occupied patient rooms. This is highly effective in ICUs, NICUs, or rooms with multiple occupants, such as the new COVID-19 hospital at the CTICC.

This is what makes the UV-D Robot the number one choice in total decontamination, and the UV-D Robots are now used around the world in hospitals, schools, airports, gyms, banks, offices, and more.

Telepresence Robots

With the instruction by President Ramaphosa to maintain a work-from-home strategy as far as possible, there is a need for advanced technology that still give you a very real human presence in your workplace, while not physically being there.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has fast tracked the adoption of virtual interactions and the telehealth agenda in Africa”, says Burger. For this to be fully adopted and be effective we need a device that is able to support the function.

For this reason, Nexmed has partnered with GoBe Robots to make available the most advanced Telepresence Robot in Africa. GoBe Robots is the sister company to UV-D Robots who both fall under the umbrella of the award-winning company, Blue Ocean Robotics.

GoBe Robots have been responsible for bringing us the Beam and BeamPro series of telepresence robots but are now launching their flagship telepresence robot in just 27 days, namely the GoBe Robot.

The GoBe Robot will feature the most advanced present-day technologies which are fundamental to adopting a telepresence program in your hospital or commercial space. The GoBe Robot is not like a static teleconference system or other mobile media device (laptop, cell phone). Instead, it provides a very real human presence with the ability to be remotely controlled from any location.

“I had the privilege recently of controlling the device in Denmark from my office in Cape Town and engage with individuals in Denmark with perfect clarity as if I was there in person”, says Jonathan Burger, CEO of Nexmed Healthcare Solutions.

The GoBe telepresence robot will allow individuals to engage at their premises of interest from home. It will allow for seamless virtual office tours, virtual meetings, virtual training, virtual Doctor consultations and more. It will also allow for reduced travels between regions.

All these factors play a significant part in reducing travel and increasing social distancing, which has a direct impact on reducing the spread of COVID-19.

It has a very special application in healthcare where Doctors will be able to conduct remote virtual consultations with patients or other specialists. It will also reduce the need for Doctors to do in-person consultations with patients who are isolated due to COVID-19, thereby drastically reducing the exposure risk and thus the spread of COVID-19.

We also face a challenge when it come to PPE shortages. The GoBe Robot will reduce this burden significantly as less PPE will be used due to virtual patient consultations as opposed to in person.

Nexmed Healthcare Solutions is at the forefront of bringing these advanced robotic technologies to Africa. For more information on the devices and other products or services offered by Nexmed, please contact the on: info@nexmedhealth.co.za or visit their various social media pages.