An ultraviolet (UV) disinfecting autonomous robot originally designed for the healthcare sector will soon be employed at grocery stores throughout Europe.

Thanks to a collaboration between UVD Robots, a manufacturer of autonomous UV disinfection robots, and OCC Commercial Consulting, a food and beverage technology company, grocery stores throughout Europe will undergo hospital-grade disinfection delivered via autonomous robots.

Source: UVD Robots

Grocery stores, according to various studies, feature a number of high traffic surfaces — refrigerator door handles, shopping cart handles and produce, among others — that harbor potentially harmful bacteria and even antibiotic resistant bacteria.

As such, the companies hope to disinfect such high-traffic surfaces with the robots, which can also autonomously disinfect grocery store aisles, shelves and checkout areas using germicidal UV-C light.

According to the companies, the disinfecting robots can operate after store hours, autonomously disinfecting surfaces and the air, decontaminating 700 square meters in just one hour and reportedly eliminating over 99.99% of microorganisms such a SARS-CoV 2 (coronaviruses) and E. Coli.

Originally designed for hospitals, the robots from UVD Robots are already deployed in classrooms, offices, healthcare settings, hotels, sports complexes, cruise ships, malls and more.

The companies are preparing to deploy the robots in grocery stores in Germany and eventually throughout Europe.

Watch the accompanying time-lapse video of the robot disinfecting a hospital room, which appears courtesy of UVD Robot.