Desarrollo de un Prototipo Robótico para Desinfección de Ambientes Cerrados, Contaminados por Covid-19 Utilizando Tecnología Ros y Visión Artificial

In 2020 the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Its emergence demonstrated that the world was unprepared for a health situation of this scale. Its effects led to social isolation and an unprecedented impact on the economy on a global scale. In such a scenario, several theoretical and practical investigations have shown that robots have come to play a determining role in the fight against COVID-19. The present study addresses the need for the creation of robotic prototypes that allow the disinfection of closed environments, which help in the elimination of the COVID-19 virus and preserve people's lives. The general objective of the research is to develop a robotic prototype to disinfect closed environments contaminated by COVID-19, using ROS technology and artificial vision. The research has an experimental design, with descriptive scope and mixed approach, where the research methods of documentary analysis, modeling and experimentation were used. The study was carried out in Guayaquil, Ecuador, from March to July 2021, in the company ATIR S. A. The key words that governed the study were COVID-19, disinfection, ultraviolet light, Raspberry, mobile robot, ROS and artificial vision. The development of the proposed solution integrated novel technologies, software and hardware such as: ROS, Raspberry, LIDAR and Sabertooth. As a result, a robotic prototype was implemented for disinfection of closed environments contaminated by COVID-19. With the proposed solution presented, which is an innovative solution in the field of engineering, a high benefit is provided to the community. It aims to improve the lifestyle of the socially confined population, as a result of the delicate sanitary situation caused by COVID-19.