Cumbrian firm invents robot that could help in Covid-19 fight

An engineering firm in Cumbria has invented a robot capable of disinfecting large areas quickly.

Forth Engineering has bases in across the county in Maryport, Cleator Moor and Barrow, and is known for its innovations which have been applied to the nuclear, oil and gas, renewables and other sectors all over the globe.

They say the remote-operated robot disinfected 68,000 square feet in 20 minutes and could speed up the fight against coronavirus.

It's able to be controlled from a safe distance and can help keep areas like hospitals and supermarkets clean during the pandemic.

A spokesperson said: "We’ve now got the cannon mounted to a crawling ROV and we’ve disinfected the back of the van out with the Covid-19 approved disinfectant - imagine if this was an ambulance after every patient had been in it."

Forth Engineering has a world-wide reputation for its creative solutions to challenges in the industry - its most recent project being the Friction Stir Welding Robotic Crawler (FSWbot) which can be used to fix pipelines without stopping production.

The company is now working on producing more disinfecting robots and answered the Government call for the production of ventilators for the NHS.