"The Xenen LightStrike" Design Summary & Analysis - Draft 4

Students from Case Western Reserve University claimed in a report, "5 Medical Robots..." (2020), that there are several advantages to designing medical robots for use in healthcare. All the robots in this list are currently implemented in hospitals to "improve the quality of care and outcome." 

In their specifically designed fields, the da Vinci Surgical robot and the CyberKnife both provide the highest precision available to their users. The da Vinci robot is mainly used for routine surgery by surgeons, while the CyberKnife is specially used to treat tumors in much-extended areas, especially areas where surgery is complex. The Xenex Germ-Zapping robot is another example of improving "quality". It is intended to disinfect hospital rooms automatically within minutes, effectively killing a wide variety of infectious bacteria in the process. The following medical robot, the PARO, which is an interactive therapeutic robot that comes in a form of an adorable animal, has shown to relieve stress and provide elderly patients with psychological and emotional comfort. Finally, the TUG is an autonomous mobile robot that transports medical supplies to areas where they are required within the hospital. It decreases manual workload, and as a result, increases the productivity of hospital workers. 

All robots should be designed to achieve a specific outcome for consumers in the relevant field. However, very few robots can benefit both the target consumers and the general market. To benefit a wider range of audiences, the product should specialize in one area which can have different uses. During this crucial time of the Covid-19 pandemic, a medical robot such as the Xenex Germ-Zapping robot is a great example for improvement to “quality of care and outcome” in hospitals. As the robot is designed with high-intensity UV light, its main purpose is to eliminate pathogens. However, the wavelengths of UV light can be altered to have different purposes. Thus, the robot is able to serve its intended purpose and is able to achieve different results when specially designed for other consumers. 

The improvement of care and outcome, provided by the Xenex Germ-Zapping robot, is the result of implementing ultraviolet (UV) rays to eliminate pathogens that linger even after manual cleaning. The company Xenex, which specializes in utilizing Xenon light, came up with an ingenious solution, Xenex LightStrike (XENEX Germ-Zapping Solutions, 2020). The Xenex LightStrike is designed to automatically disinfect hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) using pulsed, full-spectrum UV rays that are lethal to microorganisms, which effectively kills a wide variety of infectious bacteria. In the article, “Deactivation of SARS-CoV-2…” (2020, August 3), a group of researchers from Texas BioMed followed up with a series of tests. Time-based exposure of UV rays on specific materials was carried out to prove the efficacy of the pulsed-xenon ultraviolet (PX-UV) device. The PX-UV device showed that there was a significant reduction of viral load under longer durations. The researchers concluded that “PX-UV devices are a promising technology", which effectively can "enhance both healthcare worker and patient safety” (Simmons et. al., 2020). 

Currently, the world is affected by Covid-19 and the Xenex LightStrike is proving to be an efficacious solution for the consumers of this robot. The disinfecting duration has been reduced tremendously and the outcome after implementing the robot showed that up to 99.99% of the pathogens were eliminated in the process.  According to the article, “Xenex LightStrike Germ-Zapping…” (2020), hospitals have published studies in the “significant reduction in their infection rates” after acquiring the robot. Furthermore, Singapore’s leading medical institution, Singapore General Hospital (SGH), has officially implemented the use of the Xenex LightStrike robots within the hospital after a lengthy trial period of eight months from March 2020. Despite the current pandemic, the healthcare industry such as SGH, trusts that the robot will continue to “provide assurance and protection to the patients and staff”. Thus, this increases the robot’s credibility that it will continue to aid hospitals in providing quality care for their patients and medical workers. 

In conclusion, there are many publications (Morikane, K, et al., 2020; Guijuan, L, et al., 2020; Schaffzin, J.K., et al., 2020) that state how a medical robot such as the Xenen LightStrike is effective to a great extent. Based on the advanced technological design and features, this robot may prove far more capable than just improving the quality of care for the affected within hospitals. Other industries, aside from the healthcare sector, should implement this robot in other areas to reap similar results.

 

References

BioSpectrumAsia. (2020, May 29). Xenex LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots deactivate SARS-CoV-2. Retrieved from https://www.biospectrumasia.com/news/27/16026/xenex-lightstrike-germ-zapping-robots-deactivate-sars-cov-2-.html.

Case School of Engineering/Case Western Reserve University. (2020, December 28). 5 Medical Robots Making a Difference. Retrieved from https://online-engineering.case.edu/blog/medical-robots-making-a-difference.

Simmons, S.E., Carrion, R., Jr, Alfson, K.J., Staples, H.M., Jinadatha, C., Jarvis, W.R., Sampathkumar, P., Chemaly, R.F., Khawaja, F., Povroznik M., Jackson, S., Kaye, K.S., Rodriguez, R.M. & Stibich, M.A. (2020, August 3). Deactivation of SARS-CoV-2 with pulsed-xenon ultraviolet light: Implications for environmental COVID-19 control. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 42(2), 127-130. http://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2020.399.

Xenex UV Disinfection (2020, December 15). LightStrike Robot. Retrieved from https://xenex.com/light-strike/.