Healthcare, robotics · iPad Design
Clean rooms, run from a tablet.
MedBot makes a robot that disinfects hospital rooms with UV-C light. Staff run it from an iPad: they map rooms, plan disinfection tasks, check the room is safe and watch the robot work. I did the discovery, user flows, wireframes and UI design for the app.
The challenge
UV-C light kills germs on surfaces, and it can also harm people. The robot works in rooms that staff use all day. The app had to make every run safe to start and easy to follow from across the room.
Nobody can be in the room while the UV lamp is on. Before every run, staff need to confirm the room is empty, the doors are closed and the robot is in the right place.
Cleaners and operators start and watch runs. Managers plan tasks and read reports. Tech staff build maps and reset the robot. Some use the app every day, others only now and then.
Every room has its own layout and its own high-touch surfaces. Someone has to show the robot where to go, where to stop and how long to disinfect each spot.
The approach
Discovery with the MedBot team showed two kinds of users and one rule that never changes: check the room before the lamp goes on.
Testing with real users showed that map building suited tech staff but lost cleaners. I kept the full tools for tech staff and designed a guided flow for everyone else: teach a path or drive the robot by remote control, one step per screen.
Every path to Start ends with the same checklist and a short countdown. The STOP button stays in the header on every screen.
Home shows what the robot is doing now: the current task, its route on the map, a live camera view and each step marked as done or failed.
In action
TODAY'S TASKS
From Home, an operator opens today's tasks and manages the list: reorders it, removes a task and adds another. Then they set the disinfection goal, do the safety checks at the robot and follow each task from ready to running to done.
MAPS · FOR TECH STAFF
Tech staff build each map in detail: select the area, let the robot scan it, then add stop points, high-touch surfaces and the path width. It's powerful, but it's technical.
TEACH AND TASK · FOR CLEANERS
When I tested map building with real users, cleaners found it too technical. So I designed Teach and Task: a guided flow where they mark the start, walk the robot along its path once and run the safety check. One step per screen, no map tools.
REPORT CENTER
Managers see the day's numbers: rooms cleaned, disinfection hours, area covered and completed tasks. A heatmap shows where the robot spent its UV time in each room.
Design language
A dark slate header holds the controls that matter everywhere, with STOP always in reach. White cards on a light grey page keep tables and maps easy to scan. MedBot blue marks the main action, and status always has a word as well as a colour.
I worked with MedBot from discovery to UI design: the user flows, wireframes and screens for tasks, maps, teaching, remote control and reports. Every run, in either experience, ends in the same safety check.
