Professor Keehoon Kim and PhD candidate Jaewon Byun from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) have developed an “Intelligent Autonomous Wiping and UV-C Disinfection Robot” that can automate hospital disinfection procedures, according to a study published in IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine.
Autonomous Disinfection Operation Example (Cover Image). Autonomously performs cleaning tasks and UV disinfection within established protocols by identifying object positions. Image Credit: Pohang University of Science and Technology
This study was carried out in collaboration with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (Sangrok Oh, Director of Research Division, and Dr. Jinwoo Jung), the Korea Institute of Robot and Convergence (Goobong Chung, Vice President, and Dr. Youngho Choi), Elphoton Co., Ltd. (Eunhyun Park, CEO, and Dr. Kyungmin Kim), and the Pohang St. Mary's Hospital Infection Control Team (Jaemyung Kang and Eunjung Kim).
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the significance of rigorous disinfection, especially in hospital settings. With greater awareness of the significance of disinfection, concerns about labor shortages due to physical exhaustion and the risk of pathogen exposure have been raised.
Furthermore, individuals’ compliance with manually performed disinfection duties varies, and human performance is unpredictable. Conventional technologies, such as UV-C robots and hydrogen peroxide vapor systems, have intrinsic limitations in fully eliminating contaminants buried in obscured or difficult-to-reach regions.
The study team created an autonomous robot to navigate hospital facilities and execute disinfection tasks to solve these issues. The robot's dual disinfection technique is a crucial feature: it first uses a robotic manipulator to wash surfaces and remove impurities physically, then uses UV-C irradiation to disinfect hard-to-reach corners and narrow areas.
The robot’s performance was proven in real-world testing at Pohang St. Mary’s Hospital. The researchers performed bacterial culture experiments to confirm disinfection efficiency and repeated autonomous operations to ensure its long-term usability in healthcare settings.
One of the robot’s most notable benefits is its capacity to automate time-consuming and repetitive disinfection tasks, allowing healthcare staff to focus more on patient care.
Furthermore, unlike human performance, the system can disinfect with consistent precision, considerably lowering the danger of infection in the hospital. Precision control algorithms reduce operational failures, and integrating a self-sanitizing station and wireless charging system enables long-term disinfection operations.
Although COVID-19 has transitioned into an endemic phase, it remains essential to prepare for future pandemics. We will continue advancing this disinfection robot technology beyond hospitals to public facilities, various social infrastructures, and everyday environments to further reduce infection risks.
Keehoon Kim, Professor, Pohang University of Science and Technology
The Korea government (MSIT) funded this study through a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant (Project Director: Dr. Sang-Rok Oh, Korea Institute of Science and Technology).
Journal Reference:
Byun, J., et al. (2025) Autonomous Ultraviolet-C Disinfection and Wiping Robot: Assessment in a Hospital Environment. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine. doi.org/10.1109/mra.2025.3543958.