Award-wining Taiwanese robotics specialists TECO and SYSCOM, in cooperation with Taiwanese Robotics Association TAIROA, and Taiwan Excellence are aiming to demonstrate that Taiwan is a world-leader in the development of service robotics that can help mitigate the effects of the pandemic by limiting human contact and promoting sanitary conditions.

As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a boom in the need for services such as temperature checks at commercial building entry points, cleaning and disinfecting of large venues, distribution of e-commerce items, security patrols, etc. These are jobs that can all be carried out by intelligent unmanned systems to reduce the risk of human-to-human transmission and keep people out of harm’s way.

According to estimates from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), global robot installations rebounded strongly in 2021, growing by 13% to 435,000 units – an increase of 10% on the year before.

Professional service robots most in demand as a result of the global pandemic, have included autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and delivery robots, cleaning and disinfection, medical and rehabilitation, social robots and automated restaurant servers.

Perceptive AI and autonomous AI of edge computing systems including security monitoring systems, smart life, unmanned driving and robots are Taiwan’s dominant industries, and so the country has been perfectly placed to benefit from the increased demand and lead innovation in the sector.

TECO

In response to the pandemic, robotics specialist TECO launched an intelligent UVC anti-epidemic, agile automatic guided vehicle (AVG) to disinfect and sterilise office buildings and visitors. Nicknamed “T-Smurf” by the development team, according to TECO, the robot offers double sterilisation functions, spraying a Japanese patented ultrahaline disinfecting fluid with an ultrasonic atomizer for disinfection of upper area and disinfecting the ground with UVC irradiation via the UVC LED lamp.

Equipped with 33 domestic and foreign patents, the product boasts a “unique” portable lithium-ion battery set and a battery management system (BMS), promising eight-hour operation. The battery can be charged automatically or manually, TECO says, enabling around-the-clock operation.

In addition, the company claims the use of the LED UVC lamps not only saves electricity but is also safer than traditional UVC light tubes as it does not produce the harmful effects of ozone spillage found with the former.

For this innovation, TECO was granted a Silver Award at this year’s Taiwan Excellence Awards and it has been applied in multiple sites, including Nangang Software Park, Taipei New Horizon, Honhui Plaza with over 10,000 hours of operating time, the company says.

SYSCOM

Scooping another Silver Award at the 2021 Taiwan Excellence Awards was SYSCOM, with its smart service robot, Ayuda. It integrates robotic components, mobile platforms, facial recognition and human detection, as well as voice recognition, voice and video chat, self-learning map search and navigation and more. Ayuda stands above the competition, TAIROA says, effectively assisting the people it serves and providing customised, intelligent services. Ayuda has been deployed internationally, for example at the CIJ Corporation in Japan.

TAIWAN EXCELLENCE

Taiwan Excellence, along with TAIROA, work together to allow Taiwanese innovators to stay at the forefront of R&D and innovation.

For more information, please visit the Taiwan Excellence virtual pavilion here.

TAIROA

Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robotics Association (TAIROA) was established in 1984 and is the most representative association in Taiwan’s intelligence manufacturing and service industries.

TAIROA is committed to expertise and strength in production, learning, researching, and government to integrate the manufacturing engineering, automation technology, precision machinery, molds, communications, semiconductors, image display, materials, information, electronic, medical care, education, services, etc.

TAIROA aims to promote international exchanges and to be an open platform for intelligent automation and robotics expertise, engaging in cross-industry alliances; cross-industry alliances and cooperation, as well as organising domestic and overseas trade promotion and expertise exchange groups.

It hosts the largest robotics and automation industry exhibition, which will have a large influence to Taiwan’s robotics and intelligent automation industries, TAIROA says.

For more stories on innovative products from Taiwan, click here.