Disinfecting robot is Conn. partners’ star in age of COVID
To tackle one of the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic presents to businesses and other large institutions — cleaning, disinfecting, killing viruses with efficiency and thoroughness — three Ridgefield residents offer a solution:
Robots equipped with ultraviolet light.
Bill Butler, Rhys Moore and Michael Walker, Ridgefield menwho were already partners in a business offering energy efficiency solutions — LED Funding LLC — launched SmartGuardUV in 2020 as a response to the problems the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic presented to their customers in retail, grocery and commercial real estate fields.
Their headline product is an autonomous mobile robot mounted with ultraviolet-C (UVC) light guns and directed by sophisticated mapping software, so it can be programed to make its disinfecting rounds of whatever space needs regular cleaning and disinfecting. They call it “Smarty.”
“The UVC light has an effective kill rate of 99.9 percent,” said Rhys Moore.
“We have these robots deployed in hotels, convention centers, larger retail centers, grocery stores and schools.”
UVC disinfection is a long-established technology used in environments like hospitals.
“UVC disinfecting technology has been used medically for 100-plus years,” Moore said, “but the genius of this concept is to propel the light over large square footages, effectively killing all pathogens and doing it at low cost.”
Their Smarty autonomous mobile robots are at work performing disinfection duties in environments as diverse as Omni Hotels, HCA Healthcare hospitals, Virginia Commonwealth University, the Staples Center pro-basketball arena, the Atlanta Falcons’ football stadium, and an 800-store retail chain, Moore said.
The three partners are longtime friends.
“The three of us have known each other for 15-plus years. We all met at one youth sports event or another,” said Bill Butler. “All of our boys grew up together playing baseball, football, hockey and lacrosse in the Ridgefield system.”
They got into the UV disinfection business once they saw their lighting system clients — from grocery stores to hotels — struggling to deal with COVID-19. They now offer three products.
“Our experience in the energy efficiency business led us to UVC disinfecting lighting solutions as a way to help our clients find a solution to employee and customer safety and security in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Butler said. Rhys Moore offered some history. “SmartGuardUV started in 2020 with a
group of engineers seeking a new technological approach to combating the COVID-19 pandemic,” Moore said.
Their research led them to combine the disinfection power of medical grade UVC light engines with Industrial fully autonomous robots, and guided by computer mapping software.
“The light engines shine and disinfect every surface on its appointed route,” Moore said.
Butler added, “The robot was actually the brainchild of the engineering team in Atlanta that manages and executes our LED retrofits. That group is led by John David Thompson.”
He took his design concept to compa
nies that were already doing things like medical lighting and robotics.
Their “UV locker” is a product that can be “deployed to warehouses, schools, uniform rooms and retail stores to quickly and safely disinfect items that may have been contaminated” the company’s website says.
“We are also in discussions with several large school districts in the U.S. about using our robots and UV locker,” Butler said. “They are looking at using our financing options and to apply the new stimulus funding to roll out our products.”
Their third major product is the “disinfecting shopping cart wash” system.