UVD Robots Move to the Supermarket Aisle

October 12, 2021

UVD Robots, the Danish leader of autonomous UV disinfection robots, partners with OCC Commercial Consulting to offer fast and efficient disinfection solutions for supermarkets - providing a great shopping experience for employees and customers.

The average consumer spends about 60 hours grocery shopping a year. These are hours spent in an environment that may harbor different germ colonies on a variety of surfaces, including shopping carts, refrigerator doors, and on produce. A study once showed that grocery store carts have 361 times more bacteria than a bathroom doorknob — and 75 percent of those grocery store germs were considered harmful to humans. Refrigerator doors can have as much as 1,235 times more bacteria than the surface of a cellphone, and one of the most common types of these refrigerator door bacteria is resistant to antibiotics.

After receiving a second order of 100 Robots from the European Commission in September 2021 - following the first such European Commission order of 200 Robots in 2020 - UVD Robots has entered a global partnership agreement with OCC Commercial Consulting, to destroy microorganisms commonly found in grocery, food service, and retail environments.

The partnership enables OCC to deploy UVD Robots to autonomously disinfect store spaces, shelves, aisles, and checkout areas. UVD Robots will provide comprehensive disinfection results by using germicidal UV-C lighting equipment against surface bacteria. The efficacy of UV-C light against bacteria has been found to be very high, in some instances killing the microorganisms at rates of over 99.99 percent.

“Disinfecting retail environments is the perfect job for UVD Robots as they can effortlessly navigate aisles after-hours.” said Claus Risager, CSO of Blue Ocean Robotics, the manufacturer of UVD Robots.

German supermarkets will be first to receive the UV-C disinfection robot

Initially, OCC Commercial Consulting will focus on deploying UVD Robots to the German market, but it is planning to expand its efforts to the rest of Europe. “We are excited to provide UV disinfection robots with autonomous mobility to a market in great need,” said Salvatore Orto, founder of OCC Commercial Consulting. OCC is an agency with over 30 years of in-depth market experience, and focuses on supplying the food & beverage sector with technology solutions. “Supermarkets must make their employees and customers feel confident that all is being done to keep the environment free of microorganisms."

Given preset schedules and mapped routes, UVD Robots can decontaminate an estimated 700 square meters in about 1 hour. This enables the rapid disinfection of typical retail layouts without requiring on-site staff to administer the process. Disinfecting supermarkets with UV-C light is not a new concept. However, existing solutions - including stationary disinfection systems, UV ceiling lights, and air purifiers - do not offer complete disinfection, and have trouble reaching shadowed and remote areas. The UVD Robot solves the challenges of shadowing and repositioning during the disinfection process, and removes these hindrances from the comprehensive application of UV-C light. At the same time, the robot provides 24/7 access to up-to-date compliance reports and documents the efficacy of its disinfection procedures in real time.

Operating in over 70 countries worldwide, UVD Robots is the world’s most popular autonomous disinfection robot. The robots have been deployed to many different environments, including educational campuses and facilities, airports, hotels, sports complexes, railways, shopping malls, food companies, cruise ships and office complexes. The global partnership agreement with OCC Commercial Consulting focuses specifically on the retail food and beverage sector.

About Blue Ocean Robotics

Blue Ocean Robotics develops, produces, and sells autonomous mobile robots for professional use in the service industry. Its robot portfolio includes UVD Robots, GoBe Robots - a telepresence robot for reducing travel time, costs and CO2 emissions - and PTR Robots, a safe patient transfer and rehabilitation robot, designed to facilitate caregiver duties and improve patient health. The company was recently included on Fast Company’s Top 10 List of ‘Most Innovative Robotics Companies" in 2021.

About OCC Commercial | Consulting

OCC Commercial | Consulting s.a.r.l.-s. focuses on the food & beverage, production and trade sectors. With over 30 years of in-depth market experience and industry knowledge, the agency is equipped to realistically and actively support companies in their entrepreneurial developments. OCC Commercial | Consulting supports individual business optimization stemming from conceptual considerations, providing up-to-date adjustments for strategic realignment. It has the benefit of profound, comprehensive market experience in the import, export, and retail consumer goods industries, especially in the non-food and premium food & beverage sectors.

Company contact:

Merima Cikotic,Vice President of Marketing & PR at Blue Ocean Robotics
T: +45 7199 5606 | E: mc@blue-ocean-robotics.com