naminukas

Walking and wall climbing UV disinfecting robot

naminukas is a pneumatic walking robot which uses vacuum suction cups to stick to hard flat surfaces like floor, walls, doors, glass, plastic and metal. The robot can tilt vacuum suction cups at 90 degrees and use them as wheels to drive on flat but soft and porous surfaces like a carpet. Both modes of locomotion make the robot able to traverse almost any indoor surface including hanging from the ceiling. Video below shows ultraviolet LED attached to the robot as a proof of concept demonstration of how the robot could be used for disinfection purposes. Small UVA+UVC LED is used in the prototype but the robot in its current form is capable of at least 500g of payload therefore it can carry multiple UV LED strips facing various directions to sterilise robot surroundings. Currently, the robot can be programmed to traverse a rectangle of given dimensions on horizontal surfaces but must be controlled remotely on vertical surfaces. More autonomy is planned in future upgrades.