Decontamination innovation
Arrival of the decontamination Cobots
Chris Helson provides an insight into the arrival of collaborative robots – known as cobots – into sterile services departments. In this article, Chris outlines how this innovative technology could disrupt the status quo and transform pre-cleaning and inspection processes.
For more than a century, surgical instrument decontamination has advanced through successive waves of automation. Washing, disinfection, sterilisation and traceability are now validated, repeatable and tightly controlled. Yet two critical processes have remained largely untouched by this progress, pre-cleaning and inspection. Both sit outside formal automation, both are
challenging and technically difficult, both rely heavily on human judgement. And together, they represent the largest remaining sources of variability and risk in the decontamination pathway. That status quo is now being challenged by the arrival of collaborative
robots — cobots — in sterile services. Tiny Air, a Scottish medical technology
company, has introduced the world’s first fully automated, validated pre-cleaning cobot and is now developing an inspection cobot to address the final manual weak point. Together, these systems mark a shift from task-based manual work to system-level assurance.
Looking more like stainless steel boxes
than robots these systems are truly collaborative smart bots, integrating AI and state-of-the-art, real-time object detection. They are also self-validating and even email the factory if they develop a fault.
Why two manual processes matter Pre-cleaning and inspection persist not because they are low risk, but because viable alternatives have not previously existed. Pre-cleaning determines whether bioburden is removed or fixed in place. Inspection determines whether contamination is detected or allowed to progress to sterilisation. If either step fails, every validated process downstream is compromised. Despite their importance, both stages have
historically relied on individual judgement and technique, shaped by variable lighting, time pressure and operator fatigue. Documentation has often been inconsistent, making objective audit and assurance difficult. Automated systems are designed for simple, intuitive operation, reducing training requirements and making the task accessible to a wider range of staff. By removing one of the most physically demanding and least valued aspects of the role, automation also supports staff retention and long-term workforce sustainability. Cobots change this dynamic by introducing effective and efficient repeatability, validation and data to both ends of the pathway.
Pre-cleaning: the first manual bottleneck Globally, billions of surgical instruments are still manually pre-cleaned each year. Sterile services professionals consistently describe this stage as one of the most variable and least controllable parts of the workflow. It is physically demanding, dependent on staffing levels and local practice, and a frequent contributor to residual contamination and rewash. In addition, its reliance on chemicals, heat and high water use makes it increasingly difficult to justify in the context of sustainability targets. Manual pre-cleaning exposes staff to sharps injuries, blood and pathogen-contaminated aerosols, prolonged PPE use, and significant musculoskeletal strain from repetitive bending
April 2026 I
www.clinicalservicesjournal.com 69
▲
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
