WashBot

Conventional hand washing involves touching multiple potentially contaminated surfaces. By minimizing the need to touch these surfaces, WashBot can reduce cross-contamination when handling raw meats and other foods or contaminants. In addition, the device reduces the amounts of water, soap and drying agents needed to wash hands.

The user begins by inserting their hands into the scrubbing chamber, where a sensor detects their hands and begins the pre-rinse and soaping stages, followed by a mechanical microfiber scrubbing phase. After scrubbing is complete, the user places their hands in a rinsing chamber for rinsing and drying. Multiple rinsing chambers are available to allow for either a quick rinse or a full wash, depending on the user’s needs. An LCD screen displays the current stage of the washing cycle, as well as status of water quantity and system maintenance.

Water used during the pre-rinse and final rinse cycles is recycled to minimize water usage, with dirty, fresh and recycled water stored in separate tanks.

The team used the engineering design process to select commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and design, develop, integrate and test the COTS items, resulting in an effective system that saves water and decontaminates effectively.