CleanseBot Is a Pocket-Sized, Bacteria-Killing Robot for Germaphobe Travelers

From public bathrooms and security checkpoint bins to seatback pockets and all the public transport you rely on to get to and from the airport, travel is dirty. However, the nastiest spot of all is no doubt the hotel room. In the privacy of a bedroom other than their own, otherwise civilized people devolve into chimpanzees. We don’t need to tell you of the unspeakable horrors a black light can reveal inside a typical motel room. If only there were a simple, effective way to sanitize your hotel room and travel gear. Thankfully, like all 21st-century problems, there’s a robot for that.

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In simple terms, CleanseBot is like a portable, germ-killing Roomba for travelers. The compact device is small enough to fit in your pants pocket and weighs less than half a pound. That tiny form factor houses 18 sensors and four UV-C lamps powered by artificial intelligence to, in the manufacturer’s own words, “blast away 99.99 percent of germs and bacteria on any surface.” Most importantly, their independent third-party testing claims a near-perfect kill rate for the dreaded E.coli bacteria.

Its primary mode, dubbed Under Blanket Mode, is designed to clean an entire bed in 30-60 minutes depending on how thorough you want to be. Simply pull apart the top and bottom halves of CleanseBot to reveal the wheels. Once placed on the bed, the pint-sized robot goes to work crawling and cleaning the surface automatically. The manufacturer boasts that it’s been tested on more than 40 different materials and fabrics, and will climb over any lumps and bumps in the process.

In Handheld Mode, CleanseBot acts like a manual cleansing “wand.” Its downward-facing UV-C lights can sanitize virtually any surface — think TV remotes, light switches, and in-room phones — in under a minute. The built-in 3,700 mAh battery is good for up to three hours of run time, and can also be used as a backup power bank for your gadgets on the go.

CleanseBot is only an Indiegogo prototype at the moment. However, judging by the more than $1.5 million already raised and the campaign reached nearly 40,000 percent of its goal, there are plenty of Monk-like germaphobes keen to see this robot through to its projected April 2019 release. As of writing, it’s available with Super Early Bird pricing of less than $100.