VR firm makes COVID-19-busting cleansing technology commercially available

Salford-based virtual reality entertainment group Immotion has launched a commercial version of its UV anti-bacterial cleaning cabinets.

Immotion developed the technology to clean its headsets at entertainment venues in the battle to eradicate coronavirus.

But demand has grown so much that it has now started to sell its cleaning cabinets to a general customer base under the Uvisan brand.

The Uvisan process works by harnessing ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI), which is a disinfection method that uses short-wavelength ultraviolet light to kill or inactivate micro-organisms by destroying nucleic acids and disrupting their DNA, leaving them unable to perform vital cellular functions. UVGI is used in a variety of applications, such as food, air, and water purification.

A cleaning cycle using UVGI takes between three to 10 minutes, depending on the number of devices and object surface complexity, and can sanitise up to 100 phones, 50 tablets or 30 VR headsets in a single cycle.

Immotion has tested the cabinets on a range of equipment, including motion capture suit components, microphones, keyboards, cameras, PC peripherals, headphones and VR headsets to name but a few.

Due to demand, a UV clothing cabinet has now been designed with a view to supplying sectors where the cleansing of uniforms, and staff clothing is essential.

Immotion said today that, following exceptional demand, in the past week it has sold 10 cabinets, including four cabinets to Chichester University, which has purchased the cabinets to protect sensitive equipment against COVID-19 infection.

The university approached Uvisan as it quickly realised multimedia equipment such as microphones, laptops and speakers cannot be treated with traditional solution-based alcohol cleaning materials, and, as such, they needed a proven solution for this problem.

Chichester is the first university to be supplied by Uvisan, although Immotion said it is starting to see enquiries from other academic faculties.

The cabinets are available in a variety of sizes with the largest able to accommodate, cleanse and charge up to 30 laptops in a matter of minutes.

The Uvisan cabinets range in price from £2,399 to £3,199.

Immotion director, Arek Antoniak, said: “When the pandemic hit we knew we had to find a solution for our larger VR partners, our team set about designing a cabinet from scratch and within weeks had created and built the Uvisan range.

“All the cabinets have undergone extensive clinical testing and are proven to kill 99.9% of bacteria and viruses in a matter of minutes.

“The Uvisan solution is ideal for universities, schools, TV studios and effectively any organisation where the use of a solution-based cleansing method is not acceptable. We know many organisations need a guarantee that the equipment their staff and customers are using is safe – Uvisan can provide this level of comfort.”

Rod Matthews, from Chichester University, said: “At the University of Chichester we take pride in ensuring our students have the safest, as well as the best experience, across everything we do.

“Our students can expect to have hands-on experience of high-tech equipment across our entire curriculum, and especially in our innovative eSports, eGames design, animation and film production facilities.

“In our state-of-the-art Tech-Park, students get to use high-end industry filming equipment, such as motion capture, as well our extensive bespoke computer labs to create and edit films, audio, animation to industry production standards.

“We needed a solution that was easy to use and would eradicate bacteria without damaging the sensitive equipment used by our colleagues and students.

“The Uvisan cabinet was the perfect proven solution allowing us to clean all our equipment in a simple and quick cleaning cycle.”