Unmanned Systems Technology 033 l SubSeaSail Gen6 USSV l Servo actuators focus l UAVs insight l Farnborough 2020 update l Transforma XDBOT l Strange Development REVolution l Radio telemetry focus

60 W hile many people spent the Covid-19 lockdowns confined at home and in reasonable safety, a considerable portion of the world’s population had to put themselves at significant risk every day, performing essential work in sanitation, healthcare and other critical sectors. Amid labour shortages and dismay over essential workers facing excessive exposure to the coronavirus, many proposals have been made as to the ways unmanned systems could (theoretically) help fill the personnel gaps that the virus has left in the world’s economies. Singaporean company Transforma Robotics is among those few companies to have proven the pandemic-fighting potential of unmanned systems. It has developed a UGV that autonomously sprays disinfectant throughout buildings, minimising the risks to life from putting cleaning staff to such duties. In a development cycle of three months that started last February, the company has designed and completed its eXtreme Disinfection roBOT (XDBOT), tested it in various locations (hospitals included) and iterated it to nearly full production readiness. Designed to be compact and transportable, the battery-electric XDBOT measures 120 cm tall and 45 cm wide, weighs 50 kg (excluding its 10-litre disinfectant tank and battery pack), and mounts a self-aiming, self-adjusting sprayer for dispensing disinfectant at up to 160 ml/minute. With a 4-hour endurance between charges, it can disinfect 1200 m 2 per session, which the company estimates as four times that of a human worker. Timeline of the XDBOT Transforma Robotics is a spin-out from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, which over the past few years has focused primarily on developing robots for the construction sector. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the value of using unmanned systems to disinfect buildings. Rory Jackson looks at one such system Clean bill of health August/September 2020 | Unmanned Systems Technology Transforma Robotics’ engineers were able to work throughout the lockdown to produce the XDBOT