The firm typically helps to solve challenges in the nuclear, oil and gas, renewables and other sectors, and has now responded to the fight against Covid-19, and the challenge of society finding a safe way back from lockdown, by developing the remotely-operated disinfecting robot.
The first disinfecting robot to roll off its production line was demonstrated inside Whitehaven Civic Hall on 22 May. According to the firm, the robot is able to be worked remotely, controlled from a safe distance, to disinfect any area – inside or outside.
Forth managing director Mark Telford says that the robot can be used in offices, warehouses, transport hubs, schools, shopping complexes, or on the streets. “It can be deployed in any building or any area, before people return after lockdown to make sure the space they are going back to is safe to use, and can be regularly re-used to decontaminate areas whether that’s once a week or several times a day,” he says.
“We’ve put together our tracked robot, with a vapour cannon, camera and lights, and developed the first one in a matter of weeks. It’s an amazing bit of kit. I took it to one of our sites and it disinfected 68,000 square feet in just 20 minutes.”
Forth’s head of special projects Ben Telford and project engineer James Trythall were brought out of furlough to work on new products in the fight against Coronavirus. The disinfecting robot has now gone into production at Forth’s Maryport site with Sellafield Ltd having already placed an order.
“It works in a similar way to a vapour cigarette in that it fires high pressure vapour which will settle in every part of a designated area,” explains Telford. Furthermore, it has the ability to climb flights of stairs and can also be adapted for a range of other scenarios, such as being fitted with UV Light, or whatever application is required.
Telford continues: “The way we like to work is that if people have a problem, we come up with solutions. That’s our skill-set. That’s what we do. So if people are interested in this type of technology and think it could be adapted to help them, we would ask them to get in touch, and that’s what we’ll get to work on.”