Decontamination innovation
and sink-based work. Manual pre-clean also requires significant preparation and follow up processes.
When bioburden is missed during pre-
cleaning, proteins can denature and stick on during washer-disinfector cycles, increasing infection risk, damaging instruments and driving costly reprocessing loops. Manual pre- cleaning has long been accepted as a necessary compromise. Cobots remove the need for that compromise.
Pre-cleaning cobot: from sink to system Tiny Air’s pre-cleaning system replaces manual scrubbing with a two-minute, fully automated, cold-water cycle, delivering a predictable and validated outcome before instruments enter the washer-disinfector. The system operates through fully automated,
one-touch control using a chemical-free, cold-water process. It is UKCA and CE marked as a Class I medical device and incorporates safety sensors, aerosol control and automated self-disinfection. Secure data logging ensures compatibility with audit and traceability systems.
Rather than competing with washer- disinfectors or sterilisers, the cobot completes the workflow by controlling the most variable step before downstream automation begins.
Clinical evidence: demonstrated, not assumed The pre-cleaning cobot has been evaluated across NHS and private-sector environments, including theatre-level deployment and full CSSD trials. Across multiple settings, the move to automated pre-cleaning produced higher
throughput and dramatically lower rewash, while shifting staff time away from physically demanding sink work and back toward skilled, quality-critical decontamination tasks. Experience from clinical trials repeatedly
showed that replacing manual pre-cleaning with an automated process improved cleaning reliability and infection control, reduced downstream disruption, and was rapidly adopted by staff as a safer and more dependable approach. An independent AED-led Exeter rasp study found the system to be ten times more effective than ultrasonic pre-cleaning in removing bone fragments.
Point-of-use pre-cleaning enabled by cobots One of the most significant impacts of the pre- cleaning cobot is enabling validated pre-cleaning
at point of use. By preventing contaminants from drying and fixing onto instruments, the reliability of downstream decontamination improves. It supports compliance with tightening IFUs and HTM 01-01 guidance, reduces rewash and instrument damage, and establishes a clearer interface between theatre activity and sterile services workflows. Cobots make validated point-of-use pre-cleaning possible: a single operator working with the system can process the same number of instrument sets as several staff working at traditional sink-based stations, highlighting the growing impracticality of manual approaches at theatre side.
Inspection: the second critical manual process While pre-cleaning is now becoming automated, inspection remains the final manual gate before sterilisation. Visual inspection continues to depend heavily on eyesight, lighting and human judgement, all of which fluctuate across staff, shifts and working conditions. These limitations are most evident when inspecting complex, reflective or hinged instruments, where residues are easily missed.
If contamination passes inspection,
it proceeds to sterilisation unchecked, undermining the integrity of the entire pathway. Inspection is therefore not a minor step — it is the last opportunity to intervene.
The inspection cobot: decision support, not replacement Building directly on its pre-cleaning platform, Tiny Air is developing a highly effective and rapid automated inspection cobot to address this second manual weak point. The inspection system applies advanced imaging and multi-view assessment to highlight residual
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www.clinicalservicesjournal.com I April 2026
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