Meet Marvin, the asbestos detecting robot

In a bid to combat the asbestos epidemic within the construction sector, South Australian company, Frontier Microscopy, has developed an intelligent microscope capable of detecting asbestos fibres much quicker than existing methods.

Dubbed 'Marvin', the robot uses artificial intelligence to screen air samples at demolition sites for traces of asbestos.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, asbestos was considered one of the most versatile minerals due to its durable quality. However, all forms of the substance are now known to be cancerous and according to the World Health Organisation, more than 125 million people are exposed to asbestos in the workplace.

The use of asbestos has been banned in many countries including Australia, but exposure when working or demolishing old buildings poses an ongoing risk.

Frontier Microscopy estimates that one in three residences in Australia contains deadly asbestos materials, and about two in three public schools in Australia are known to contain the toxic substance.

"The scary thing is because there are so many asbestos materials in old buildings that are being torn down, more and more asbestos fibres are being released and the effects won’t peak until about 2020," says Frontier Microscopy co-founder and managing director, Jordan Gruber.

Current asbestos screening processes are arduous and involve manual analysis of samples and then entering the information into a computer.  Frontier Microscopy claims Marvin can reduce the total analysis time from about 15 minutes to less than two minutes by taking 100 images across an entire sample and then automatically uploading to a cloud-based software where they are analysed for traces of asbestos.

It then stores the information in the cloud and formats it into a suitable document for clients such as government bodies or companies.

In addition, Marvin is not restricted by daily volume limits and can analyse an unlimited amount of samples per day, hence providing faster turnaround of results for clients.

Frontier Microscopy has received $A50,000 in funding from the South Australian Government’s Early Commercialisation Fund to continue developing Marvin.

A nationwide launch for Marvin has been planned for May or June 2017.