The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the critical importance of thorough disinfection, particularly within hospital environments. However, traditional manual disinfection methods have inherent limitations, including labor shortages due to physical fatigue and risk of exposure to pathogens, inconsistent human performance, and difficulty in reaching obscured or hard-to-reach areas.

To address these challenges, a team of researchers from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) has developed an “Intelligent Autonomous Wiping and UV-C Disinfection Robot” that can automate hospital disinfection processes. This innovative robot is capable of navigating through hospital environments and performing disinfection tasks with precision and consistency.

The key feature of this robot is its dual disinfection system, which combines physical wiping and UV-C irradiation to effectively remove contaminants from surfaces. The robotic manipulator uses a wiping mechanism to physically clean high-touch areas, while the UV-C light ensures thorough disinfection of hard-to-reach corners and narrow spaces.

Real-world testing at Pohang St. Mary’s Hospital validated the robot’s performance, with bacterial culture experiments confirming its effectiveness in disinfecting surfaces. Repeated autonomous operations were carried out to verify its long-term usability in clinical settings.

The significance of this technology lies in its ability to automate time-consuming and repetitive disinfection tasks, allowing healthcare professionals to devote more attention to patient care. Additionally, the robot’s precision control algorithms minimize operational failures, while its integration with a self-sanitizing station and wireless charging system ensures sustained disinfection operations.

Professor Keehoon Kim emphasized that despite COVID-19 transitioning into an endemic phase, it remains essential to prepare for future pandemics by advancing this disinfection robot technology beyond hospitals to public facilities, social infrastructures, and everyday environments to further reduce infection risks. This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT).

The hospitality industry is taking a cue from new research in the Penn State School of Hospitality Management, which suggests that service robots can be designed to influence customers’ decisions based on their gender characteristics. The study found that service robots with characteristics typically associated with males may be more persuasive when interacting with women who have a low sense of power.

Led by researchers Lavi Peng, Anna Mattila, and Amit Sharma, the team conducted two studies to explore how the gender portrayed in service robots can affect customers’ decisions. In the first study, participants were asked to imagine visiting a new restaurant and receiving a menu recommendation from a service robot. The results showed that women with a low sense of power were more likely to accept recommendations from male robots.

“For men with a low sense of power, we found the difference was less obvious,” said Peng. “Based on our findings, consumers with high power tend to make their own judgment without relying on societal expectations.”

The researchers suggested that businesses could leverage these findings by using male robots to recommend new menu items or persuade customers to upgrade their rooms.

To mitigate gender stereotypes in robot design, the team conducted a second study and found that “cute” features, such as big eyes and raised cheeks, can reduce the effect of portrayed robot gender on persuasiveness. Both male and female customers responded similarly to robots with these features, suggesting that businesses could consider using cute designs to mitigate gender stereotypes.

The Marriott Foundation supported this research, highlighting the importance of understanding how service robots can influence customer decisions in the hospitality industry.

Bismuth, a relatively unknown metal, has been found to possess a stable and unique electrical property that could revolutionize the field of green electronics. Researchers at McGill University have made a groundbreaking discovery that challenges conventional wisdom in physics and opens up new possibilities for more efficient, stable, and environmentally friendly electronic components.

The team, led by Professor Guillaume Gervais, observed an unusual electrical effect in ultra-thin bismuth flakes, which remained unchanged across a wide temperature range, from near absolute zero to room temperature. This discovery has the potential to lead to the development of electronic devices that can function more efficiently and reliably in extreme conditions, making them ideal for space exploration, medical uses, and other high-temperature applications.

“We were so surprised by this finding,” said Gervais, “and we couldn’t believe it when our students told us they had won a bottle of wine from me on a bet. I was convinced that the effect would disappear once we increased the temperature, but it stubbornly refused to go away.”

The researchers developed a new technique for creating ultra-thin bismuth flakes by patterned microscopic trenches onto a semiconductor wafer and mechanically shaving off thin layers of the metal. They then tested these flakes under extreme magnetic fields at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Florida.

This discovery has sparked interest in the scientific community, with many speculating about the potential implications for the development of topological materials and quantum computing. Gervais and his team are now exploring whether bismuth’s anomalous Hall effect can be converted into its quantum counterpart, which could pave the way for electronic devices that function at higher temperatures than previously possible.

The research was supported by various organizations, including the New Frontiers in Research Fund, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

This discovery has significant potential to revolutionize the field of green electronics and could lead to breakthroughs in space exploration, medical uses, and other high-temperature applications. As researchers continue to explore the properties of bismuth, we may see a new generation of electronic devices that are more efficient, stable, and environmentally friendly.