UV Robot Design Contest

The challenge

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the way we work, socialize and most importantly how we care for those who are most vulnerable. Micron would like to bring together the community of developers, makers, tinkerers and researchers to create a cost-effective and safe robotic solution to improve surface sanitation through the use of UV light to deactivate pathogens.

Your challenge is to design a robotic system that incorporates the operation of a UV light exposure system to move around and sanitize areas. Without contacting surfaces, the UV light can irradiate exposed surfaces such as doors, desks, chairs, floors, sinks and other bathroom surfaces.

We encourage you and/or a team of collaborative developers to be creative in your solutions. Use existing hardware and software solutions and open source resources to fully document your project.

Why UV?

Bio-organisms such as bacteria, spores and viruses are known to be deactivated when exposed to UV-C light irradiation. Check out the "Resources" section below to learn more on the science behind this.

Why Robots?

Robots are cool! Robots are in use for a number of applications where humans can be at risk of exposure. They can do routine tasks with accuracy and repeatability, record their actions for review and verification and work around the clock to help make our environments cleaner and safer.

PRIZES 

We hope to bring together the best of the open source hardware and software community to bring cost effective solutions to our current challenges in making heavily used surfaces safer from exposure to biohazards.

Grand Prizes

The top three overall winners will receive a cash prize in the form of virtual VISA or Mastercard gift cards.

1st Place

$10,000 USD

2nd Place

$5,000 USD

3rd Place

$2,500 USD

Engineering Innovation Excellence

Innovation is at the heart of Micron's culture. This award goes to the project that best demonstrates excellence in engineering innovation.

1 winner

(4) Micron 2200 Series 1TB M.2 NVMe Solid State Drives

$420 value

Best in Automation and Control

This prize awards the best project that provides user functionality and efficiency in automation and control.

1 winner

(4) Micron 2200 Series 1TB M.2 NVMe Solid State Drives

$420 value

Best in Safety Features

Project design must keep people safe from biohazards and UV lighting systems while maintaining physical safety for operators and anyone who interacts with this robot. We're awarding the project with the best safety features.

1 winner

(4) Micron 2200 Series 1TB M.2 NVMe Solid State Drives

$420 value

First 25 Qualified Contest Entries

The first 25 qualified contest entries will receive Micron swag.

25 winners

Micron Swag

$100 value

JUDGES

Judging will be conducted by a panel of subject matter experts with technical background in robotics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software development, sensors and medical experts.

RESOURCES

Background Information on UV Germicidal Irradiation of Viruses

Ultraviolet light destroys the genetic material in pathogens—DNA in bacteria and fungi, RNA in viruses—preventing them from reproducing. The primary function of the UV- robot will be to disinfect rooms using ultraviolet germicidal irradiation for use at various businesses and organizations inexclusive of any industry or setting outside the medical field.

UV-C Destroys DNA and RNA in Bacteria and Viruses

Once the robot is manually energized by the operator, the system must activate the UV lamps/LEDs remotely. The system will operate only when the area being disinfected is fully vacated (no living beings are present) and will be interlocked by the motion safety feature if movement is detected. The robot will sanitize all surrounding surfaces, including the floor.

Meeting room disinfection

After each area within a room is sanitized, the robot must be able to move to the next area. Distance/Vision sensors (i.e. camera, laser, IR LED, ultrasonic, etc.) must monitor the environment to prevent human exposure, robot collision, and damage. After the robot has finished sanitizing a room, it will notify the operator that the job is complete and then shut itself down.

The ability to monitor, measure, and track individual performance of each sanitation will need to be available for historical tracking.

Ability to identify doors, handles and other high touch surfaces for preferential sanitation is desired in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness of this sanitation solution.

Example Bathroom:

Bathroom Disinfection

Example Robot:

Reference Articles

• "Inactivation of Viruses on Surfaces by Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation" Written by Chun-Chieh Tseng & Chih-Shan Li; To cite this article: Chun-Chieh Tseng & Chih-Shan Li (2007) Inactivation of Viruses on Surfaces by Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 4:6, 400-405, DOI: 10.1080/15459620701329012
• CDC's Decontamination and Reuse of Filtering Facepiece Respirators
• How we know disinfectants should kill the COVID-19 coronavirus
• Virex® II 256 One-Step Disinfectant Cleaner and Deodorant; Quat Based Disinfectant
• EPA-approved list of products that can safely be used to fight viruses
• NYT article "They Clean the Buildings Workers Are Fleeing. But Who’s Protecting Them?"
• 2020 COVID-19 Coronavirus Ultraviolet Susceptibility Technical Report

About us

Micron Technology, Inc is an industry leader in innovative memory and storage solutions. Through our global brands — Micron® and Crucial® — our broad portfolio of high-performance memory and storage technologies, including DRAM, NAND, 3D XPoint™ memory and NOR, is transforming how the world uses information to enrich life. Backed by more than 40 years of technology leadership, our memory and storage solutions enable disruptive trends, including artificial intelligence, 5G, machine learning and autonomous vehicles, in key market segments like mobile, data center, client, consumer, industrial, graphics, automotive, and networking. Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq under the MU symbol. To learn more about Micron Technology, Inc., visit micron.com.

© 2020 Micron Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Information, products, and/or specifications are subject to change without notice. Micron, the Micron logo, and all other Micron trademarks are the property of Micron Technology, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

RULES

Eligibility

You are eligible to enter if you meet the following requirements at time of entry:

• You are at least 18 years of age
• You are not a resident of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, the Crimea region, or Syria
• US export regulations include broad prohibitions involving the export of goods, technology, software and services to the countries listed above. As a result, residents of these countries are not eligible to participate in this challenge.

You are not an immediate family member or household member of an employee of Hackster.io, Micron Technology, Inc. (“MTI”) or any of MTI’s affiliates (MTI and its affiliates, “Micron”)

Submission requirements

To be eligible for judging, you must meet ALL of the following requirements unless otherwise stated:

General Requirements

Your team is no more than 10 members per entry.

Hardware/Software Build Requirements

• Identify any hardware or software requirements your design requires if they are Open Source or not.
• Your project must be an open-source design for an Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) robot.
• Your project must be your original work and you must expressly make your design, your project documentation, and your resource files (schematics, code, CAD) available under the CERN-OHL-P V2 license (available at https://ohwr.org/cern_ohl_p_v2.txt).

Project Documentation Requirements

• Your project must include a project name, short project description, cover image, bill of materials (BOM), operations instructions, images, and relevant resource files (schematics, code, CAD, calculations).
• Provide a technical abstract for the UV-C Robot (max 800 words). The technical abstract and support documentation should cover all aspects of the UV-C light design and robot design, including features, capabilities, and innovations. Download reference documents (link to site). Please provide the specifications and technical details of each:
• Ultraviolet radiation (UV) dose and threshold limit value (TLV) calculations – Reference data
• UV-C dose calculation - Reference UV calculator
• Design Requirements Document
• Component specification sheet – provide example, make sure document name references same name
• Software platform(s)
• Navigation and guidance platform(s)
• Safety features
• Programming
• Expected maintenance schedule - Best estimate if available
• Maintenance needed
• Visual illustration(s)shall be formatted PDF, GIF, JPEG, PNG, DWG, inventor, Solidworks, solid edge
• Upload at least three (but no more than 8) visual illustrations. File type options: PDF, GIF, JPEG, PNG. The visual illustration(s) should complement your entry description and can be drawings, photos, charts, or CAD images
• All documentation needs to be in English.

Judging criteria

Your project will be judged according to the rubric below:

Functionality (40 points)

• Is the robot safe to operate? It needs to operate via remote programming and/or autonomously navigating within rooms and other spaces detecting environment for its own safe operation and the safety of operators and personnel, including a shut off when motion and/or heat, etc. are detected.
• Is the robot fully autonomous?

Manufacturability (40 points)

• Is it designed in such a way that can be manufactured using readily available components and software, with minimum custom components or software?
• Can your design be cost-effectively and quickly manufactured?
• Does the bill of materials (BOM) come in under the $10,000 USD target?
• Can the documentation be easily followed to aid in the manufacturing process?
• Are the building materials, including any required software tools, readily available in quantities enabling volume manufacturing?

Innovation (20 points)

• Does the design implement new ways of doing things that help to improve efficiency, effectiveness, aid in the manufacturing process, or drive cost down?

How to enter

Step 1: Register for the Contest

• Start by creating a free account on Hackster.io (or sign-in if already a member).
• Register for the contest by clicking “Register as a participant”.

Step 2: Build and Document Your Project

• Build your project according to the submission requirements.
• Document your project build using Hackster’s project template. To create a new project, click “create new project” on the contest page or the “+” symbol in the top right corner of your Hackster page.

Step 3: Review and submit your project

• Review your project and make sure it meets all the submission requirements.
• Upload a previously created project by clicking “add existing project” on the contest page.
• Submit your project by Aug 30, 2020 at 11:59 PM PT by clicking “review and submit project” on the contest page.

Full rules

Common terms used in these rules

These are the full rules that govern how the contest will operate. In these rules, “we,” “our”, and “us” refer to Hackster and/or the contest host. “You” and “yourself” refer to an eligible contest participant. The full rules also include all above eligibility, requirements, and judging criteria recorded in the “rules” tab of this contest page.

Contest description:

This is a skill-based contest brought to you by Hackster.io and sponsored by Micron Technology, Inc. The object of this contest is to Design a UV Robot capable of Sanitizing spaces in a Safe and Autonomous manner using Open Source Hardware and Software. For the purposes of this contest, each idea you submit will be called a “hardware application” and each project you submit in the contest will be called an “entry”. All eligible entries received will be judged using the judging criteria above to determine the final prize winners.

What are the start and end dates?

Contest starts at Jun 4, 2020 at 9:00 AM PT and ends at Aug 30, 2020 at 11:59 PM PT and will consist of the following periods:.

• Contest projects submission period: Jun 4, 2020 at 9:00 AM PT through Aug 30, 2020 at 11:59 PM PT
• Contest winners will be announced on September 14, 2020.

Note: Contest end dates are at the sole discretion of Hackster and/or the contest sponsor and may be subject to change.

Can I enter?

If your participation violates ANY of the following, you may be disqualified.

• You are under the age of 18.
• Your entry must be your own original work.
• Your entry cannot have been selected as a winner in any other Hackster contest.
• You must have obtained any and all consents, approvals or licenses required for you to submit your entry.
• Your entry may not include any third party trademarks (logos, names) or copyrighted materials (music, images, video, recognizable people, code, schematics etc...) unless you have obtained permission to use the materials.
• Your entry must comply with your employer’s gift policies.

Hardware applications and/or project entries may NOT contain ANY of the following content:

• Content that is sexually explicit.
• Content that is unnecessarily violent or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group.
• Content that is profane or pornographic.
• Content that promotes illegal drugs, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing) or a particular political agenda.
• Content that is obscene or offensive.
• Content that defames, misrepresents or contains disparaging remarks about other people or companies.
• Content that communicates messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or good will to which we wish to associate.
• Content that violates any law.

We reserve the right to reject an entry, in our sole and absolute discretion, that we determine contains any of the above content.

Important note about Copyright: Your entire entry must only include material (including hardware, source code – both open source and third party sourced, user interface, music, video or images) that you own or that you have permission from the copyright/trademark owner to use. Your and/or your team’s entry may not include copyrighted materials (such as source code, user interface, background music, images or video) unless you own or have permission to use the materials. Ownership is not defined as purchasing a CD at a music store for replay, if playing a copyrighted recording on your guitar or repurposing an application’s user interface – your entry may be disqualified if copyrighted materials, including but not limited to these examples, are a part of your entry without appropriate licensing or permissions. If you do use permissible copyrighted materials, you must include the permissions information by citing the artist/creator and license information. Note that even material released under sites such as Creative Commons, common open source code licenses, and other similar licensing may need permission or acknowledgement as per the specific license.

Can I enter this contest as a team?

You can enter as a team of no more than ten members.

The following requirements must be satisfied to participate in this contest as a team:

• Your team must choose one individual (the “representative”) to speak for, act, and enter a project submission on behalf of your team.
• Each individual team member must meet ALL of the eligibility and contest requirements outlined in the full rules.

How will my entry be potentially used?

Other than what is set forth below, we are not claiming any ownership rights to your entry. However, by submitting your entry, you agree to ALL of the following statements:

• You grant us an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to: (i) use, review, assess, test and otherwise analyze your entry and all its content in connection with this contest; and (ii) feature your entry and all content in connection with the marketing, sale, or promotion of this contest (including but not limited to internal and external sales meetings, conference presentations, tradeshows, and screen shots of this contest entry in press releases) in all media (now known or later developed).
• You agree that by submitting an entry you: (i) intend that the entry will be made publicly available if accepted for publication or presentation by Micron Technology, Inc; and (ii) acknowledge that Micron Technology, Inc, at its sole discretion, has the right to remove any information [or code] submitted in the entry to address compliance with any applicable laws, address any of the restrictions described herein, or for editorial or other purposes deemed necessary.
• You agree to sign any necessary documentation that may be required for us and our designees to make use of the rights you granted above.
• You understand that after the submission deadline has passed, any project that has been submitted to the contest cannot be deleted or made private and will remain on the contest page after the contest has concluded.
• You understand and acknowledge that the sponsor(s) may have developed or commissioned materials similar or identical to your submission and you waive any claims you may have resulting from any similarities to your entry.
• You understand that you will not receive any compensation or credit for use of your entry, other than what is described in these full rules.

Please note that following the end of this contest your entry may be posted on a website selected by us for viewing by visitors to that website. We are not responsible for any unauthorized use of your entry by visitors to this website. While we reserve these rights, we are not obligated to use your entry for any purpose, even if it has been selected as a winning entry. If you do not want to grant us these rights to your entry, please do not enter this contest.

How are prizes awarded?

In the event of a tie between any eligible entries, an additional judge will break the tie based on the judging criteria described above. The decisions of the judges are final and binding. If we do not receive a sufficient number of entries meeting the entry requirements, we may, at our discretion, select fewer winners than the number of contest prizes described in the contest brief.

If you are a potential winner, we will notify you by sending a message to the e-mail address, the phone number, or mailing address (if any) provided at time of entry within seven (7) days following completion of judging. If the notification that we send is returned as undeliverable, or you are otherwise unreachable for any reason, we may award to a runner-up. If there is a dispute as to who is the potential winner, we will consider the potential winner to be the authorized account holder of the e-mail address used to enter the contest. If you are a potential winner, we may require you to sign an Affidavit of Eligibility, Liability/Publicity Release and/or a W-9 tax form or W-8 BEN tax form within 10 days of notification. If you complete a tax form, you will be issued an IRS Form 1099 the following January for the actual value of the prize. You are advised to seek independent counsel regarding the tax implications of accepting a prize. If you are a potential winner and you are 18 or older, but are considered a minor in your place of legal residence, we may require your parent or legal guardian to sign all required forms on your behalf. If you do not complete the required forms as instructed and/or return the required forms within the time period listed on the winner notification message, we may disqualify you and select a runner-up.

The Grand Prize cash prizes (1st place prize $10,000 USD, 2nd place prize $5,000 USD, 3rd place prize $2,500 USD) will be awarded via VISA or Mastercard gift card(s). Depending upon number of team members, winners will have the option to divide the cash prize into however many gift cards necessary.

If you are confirmed as a winner of this contest, the following rules apply:

• You may not exchange your prize for cash or any other merchandise or services. However, if for any reason an advertised prize is unavailable, we reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value.
• You may not designate someone else as the winner. If you are unable or unwilling to accept your prize, we may award it to a runner up.
• You will be solely responsible for all applicable federal, state, and local taxes related to accepting the prize, if you choose to accept the prize.
• If a prize is awarded to a project submitted by a team, the designated representative will be the sole recipient of said prize, unless otherwise agreed upon in writing by the representative and his/her team.
• If you win a prize that violates import regulations for your county, you must complete this form within 10 days of receiving confirmation of your winning entry to 1) receive a virtual Visa gift card with the equivalent value of the prize OR 2) provide an alternative shipping address to send the prize.

Unless otherwise noted, all prizes are subject to their manufacturer’s warranty and/or terms and conditions.

What other conditions am I agreeing to by entering?

By entering this contest you are agreeing to the following statements:

• You agree to abide by these full rules.
• You agree to abide by the policies outlined on Hackster’s website, including our Terms of Service, Code of Conduct and Privacy Policy.
• You agree to release and hold harmless Hackster, [sponsor name] and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees and agents from any and all liability or any injury, loss or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with this contest, or any prize won.
• You agree that your personal data including your name, email address, personal address, phone number, and any other personal information disclosed during the duration of this contest may be shared with and used by Hackster and [sponsor name] in order to facilitate the execution of this contest.
• You agree that Hackster’s decisions will be final and binding on all matters related to this contest.
• You agree that, by accepting a prize, Hackster may use your proper name and state of residence online and in print, or in any other media, in connection with this contest, without payment or compensation to you, except where prohibited by law.

What laws govern the way this contest is executed and administered?

This contest will be governed by the laws of the State of California, and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of the courts of the State of California for any disputes arising out of this contest.

What if something unexpected happens and the contest can not run as planned?

If someone cheats, or a virus, bug, bot, catastrophic event, or any other unforeseen or unexpected event that cannot be reasonably anticipated or controlled, (also referred to as force majeure) affects the fairness and/or integrity of this contest, we reserve the right to cancel, change or suspend this contest. This right is reserved whether the event is due to human or technical error. If a solution cannot be found to restore the integrity of the contest, we reserve the right to select winners from among all eligible entries received before we had to cancel, change or suspend the contest.

If you attempt, or we have strong reason to believe that you have compromised the integrity or the legitimate operation of this contest by cheating, hacking, creating a bot or other automated program, or by committing fraud in ANY way, we may seek damages from you to the fullest extent permitted by law. Further, we may disqualify you, and ban you from participating in any of our future contests.

Who do I contact about this contest?

If you have any questions or comments regarding this contest, please email us at