Expensive individual complicated testing for Covid-19 should soon become a thing of the past. Cambridgeshire company, Roboscientific  has announced that it is applying its existing Early Disease Detection Technology for Animals to provide a Non-invasive Automatic Covid19 Monitoring System for indoor environments like classrooms.

The Roboscientific Covid19 Monitoring System provides a fast, affordable check for the disease which is delivered automatically and in Real Time – just like a smoke alarm. 

The Covid-19 Monitor will be installed into a room and take air samples at regular intervals which it will automatically pass over the sensors and analyse the results to see if there is any Covid-19 Digital Fingerprint in the room.  If the Fingerprint is found, the Monitor will automatically alert the designated person via Bluetooth, SMS, Email or other media; who can then isolate the inhabitants of that room and arrange for individual tests to be given to identify who in that space has the infection.

This will all be done automatically without any disruption to the inhabitants or anyone having to act as tester.  There is no individual cost associated with this test as it happens automatically within the machine, which is programmed to recalibrate itself at the end of each monitoring cycle ready for the next test. 

The monitor, when installed in a room, will be able to ‘sniff’ the air to see if Covid19 infections are present in the space.  It will be monitoring the air in the room at regular intervals to see if there are any significant changes to the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), or odours, in the atmosphere. 

Should someone infected with Covid19 enter the room, the Monitor, which is capable of detecting the molecules generated by the symptoms associated with a specific viral disease like Covid-19 in quantities less than 10 parts per billion; will identify the presence of the disease’s digital fingerprint .   It will then send an automated alert to a designated person – for example, the Secretary or Head Teacher in a School – in real-time so that they can quarantine the class and organise individual tests to identify who is infected within that environment. 

Roboscientific has spent the last five years developing ground-breaking new sensoring and sampling systems to detect the Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Digital Fingerprint which occurs in living organisms in response to specific diseases such as Covid-19.

The technology detects the same information that a dog picks up by sniffing.  This new technology uses sensors which work together to identify which VOCs comprise the Digital Fingerprint of a disease.  Each sensor in the array (up to 24 different sensors) creates a specific pattern (Digital Fingerprint) and when you look at the overall pattern generated, it is possible to identify which disease is present. 

The company expects to be able to trial pre-production systems by the summer of 2021 – by adapting the system it is about to launch for detecting the Early Onset of Disease in Chicken Houses.

Commenting on the new system, CEO Stan Curtis said, “It is widely recognised that although viruses do not give off VOCs, they generate symptoms which do.  We realised that by identifying the VOCs which are specific to particular diseases, we could develop a sensing system which is non-invasive, automatic and repeatable.  Our sensors are designed to perform repeated tests of the atmosphere with virtually no running costs or human interventions.

“Our Automatic Covid-19 Monitor will allow people to spend time in an environment knowing that there will be an alert if anyone infected with Covid-19 is in the space. We believe that our technology will make everyone’s life so much more bearable – with non-invasive automatic testing becoming a more effective, consistent and reliable testing regime for indoor spaces.”

Roboscientific has already developed its initial Covid-19 sensor array and the Company expects to start trials in real-world environments in early 2021.

 

For more information, contact:  Angela Curtis, Sales Director,

Roboscientific Limited, Espace North, 181 Wisbech Road, Littleport, Cambs.  CB6 1RA.

Email: press@roboscientific.com  Telephone: 07736 234803

www.roboscientific.com