The Covid-19 pandemic caused online commerce activity to have its best moments in years. For this reason, Amazon has had to keep its distribution centers open, but with the great challenge of not putting its employees at risk. For this, the company has announced several measures that it establishes in distribution centers around the world, and one of the most curious is that of its new robot that is apparently capable of killing the coronavirus.
During the visit of the medium 60 minutes to one of the Amazon warehouses in the United States to report what measures the company was taking with its employees, the medium found something really interesting, because they noticed the existence of a robot that walks the warehouse to eliminate the virus that is on the surface.
Ultraviolet rays against Covid-19
The robot has been built with a very simple and functional design, it has 4 wheels that allow it to move throughout the warehouse. The American media does not explain exactly how this robot works, although most likely it is programmed to scan all surfaces while casting UV light and thus eliminate the virus.
The robot is part of a measure that the company has created after the growing concerns of distribution center employees, who on more than one occasion have mentioned that healthy distance is often not respected due to workload.
Amazon is using the robot both in warehouses and in supermarkets of the Whole Foods chain, and it has been left for now that it is a prototype that was created quickly and with the parts available, so if they will start mass-manufacturing it for more places their design would be different.
Supossely Yes. It has been shown that Covid-19 can live on a surface for 24 hours, in fact, surfaces are a potential risk of contagion, which is why it is very important not to touch your face until after you have thoroughly washed your hands.
Ultraviolet light is known to inactivate the virus, in fact, this is the method used to disinfect smartphones, the problem is that until today science has not shown that ultraviolet light is totally effective against Covid-19, In other words, this technology has not been proven to completely kill the virus, but the opposite has not been said either.
In the absence of a study that completely determines it, Amazon has acted with what is known about ultraviolet light and Covid-19, making it an interesting idea that undoubtedly seeks to protect employees, dealers and customers from possible infections by the presence of the virus on surfaces.