Local robotics firm rolls out portable disinfecting robot

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A local robotics firm is rolling out a robot designed to be portable enough to disinfect your workplace.

Meet Breezy Blue.

The little robot sprays fog and makes disinfecting any space, well, a breeze. The machine is made by “Build With Robots,” a firm located in downtown Albuquerque.

“The issue that we found is, most facilities, do you want to disinfect regularly. They just don’t have the workforce to do it,” said Chris Ziomek, the founder and CEO of Build with Robots.

In fact, they sent KOB 4 a prototype to use in the newsroom. Its small size makes it easy to move and can cover an area of up to 30,000 cubic feet. That includes EMS vehicles, school buses and classrooms. All that’s needed is to press a button and then it takes just 30 seconds to disinfect a whole room.

Ziomek says it’s 99.99% effective in getting rid of a wide range of viruses and pathogens. That includes flu, COVID, norovirus, Rhinoviruses, bacteria, molds and spores.

Three years since New Mexico declared a state of emergency because of COVID, the company says its Breezy line of products has been successful in cutting down on labor and costs.

“All of us have COVID fatigue at this point where we want to move on. Unfortunately, there’s still disease spread,” Ziomek expressed.

Each machine costs about $2,500, which Ziomek says typically saves the average business enough labor over a month or two before it pays for itself.