(Radio Iowa) – Three robots are at work in a northeast Iowa hospital, making the final sweep to make sure rooms are disinfected after a patient is discharged. Finley Hospital in Dubuque is the first hospital in Iowa to buy “Lightstrike” robots that have recently been approved by the FDA for this purpose. John Anglin, Director of Environmental Services for the hospital, said humans wipe down surfaces with disinfectants first, then the robots come in. “The robot emits a UV light, so it’s going to hit surfaces that we don’t normally get. It’s going to get all the walls and ceilings,” he said. “Everything that the light touches will be disinfected.” These Lightstrike robots aren’t like robot vacuums. They’re far larger. “If you think of R2D2 from Star Wars, it actually is kind of shaped like that,” Anglin said.

The robots are named at the factory, but Anglin said staff at Finley Hospital had a contest to rename the three robots in service there because, he said, the robots are considered part of the hospital’s Environmental Services team. “Right now our robots are Abby, R2D2 and Finn,” he said. Anglin worked for over a decade providing environmental services at medical clinics in Dubuque and for another hospital, but four months ago when Anglin started at Finley Hospital was the first time he’d worked with a cleaning robot. “This is just another layer in our way to protect our patients,” Anglin said.

Environmental Services team at Dubuque hospital with R2D2, the cleaning robot. (Photo courtesy of Finley Hospital)

Autonomous robots began scrubbing and then drying floors in hospitals a few years ago. This next generation of robots is able to use UV rays to clean every inch of a hospital room and use less chemicals in the process.