Researchers from the Fraunhofer Italia Innovation Engineering Center in Bozen, Italy, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO in Stuttgart, Germany, have developed a robot that interfaces with Building Information Modeling (BIM) — an intelligent 3D model-based tool for planning, designing, constructing and managing buildings and infrastructure — to autonomously disinfect doorknobs and other high-traffic surfaces amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The BALTO robot, so-called for a sled dog who 100 years ago transported vaccines to remote regions of Alaska, autonomously disinfects doorknobs and other high-traffic surfaces in shared spaces such as workplaces.

Setting BALTO apart from other disinfecting robots that have emerged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is that BALTO is linked to BIM data such as building geometries. According to its developers, BALTO autonomously plans its disinfection routes within a building based on BIM data.

Source: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

For instance, the BIM interface will reveal to Balto which doorknobs are used more frequently and, consequently, require frequent disinfection. Likewise, the BIM will let BALTO know what rooms are occupied and when, or if an area within the building is under construction, so that the robot can tailor its disinfection route.

In addition to letting BALTO know where all of the doorknobs are and where the most frequently used ones are located, the BIM also lets BALTO know what the material composition of the doorknobs is so that BALTO can adjust its disinfection process accordingly.

The Fraunhofer team believes that BALTO can also be used for applications beyond disinfection, including monitoring and maintenance. For more information, watch the accompanying video that appears courtesy of Fraunhofer Italia Innovation Engineering Center and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO.