Robot tackles tough corporate jobs

CLEANING UP: Formed in 2011, Purifad is quickly garnering recognition, including work for a national financial institution with facilities in R.I. From left: Vice President of Sales John Palazzo, President Jordan Amaral, CEO Manuel Martins Jr., owner Manuel Martins Sr. and robotics-operations employee Jason Ead. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
CLEANING UP: Formed in 2011, Purifad is quickly garnering recognition, including work for a national financial institution with facilities in R.I. From left: Vice President of Sales John Palazzo, President Jordan Amaral, CEO Manuel Martins Jr., owner Manuel Martins Sr. and robotics-operations employee Jason Ead. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

The story of Purifad typifies the American entrepreneurial dream of starting a family business, recognizing opportunity and embracing change.
“It’s amazing that a little family business in Rhode Island could patent something to be used worldwide,” said Manuel Martins Jr., who worked with his father’s business, Martins Maintenance, after graduating from Scituate High School. Martins now holds a patent on a robotic cleaning system and is part owner of a new family business, Purifad.
“My father started a little cleaning company in 1976 out of a basement off Elmwood Avenue in South Providence,” said Martins. The company moved to East Providence 12 years ago and bought a building. Martins Maintenance today has clients in eight states, from Pennsylvania to New York to Vermont.
It was when Martins began to see the expense of cleaning under raised-access flooring, where Under Floor Air Distribution, or UFAD, air conditioning systems and electrical systems are located, that he was struck by the opportunity for innovation.
“I was approached by a Fortune 100 company having some air quality issues,” Martins said.
“I met with the facilities manager and he asked if I could give them a quote for cleaning under the raised flooring.” The Rhode Island facility was 490,000 square feet.
“The cost to lift the tiles and vacuum underneath was astronomical,” said Martins. “We mentioned it would be pretty cool to have a robot that would drop under the floor and navigate the wires. I came up with an idea and sketched some drawings.”
He did extensive research that led to programmers and engineers in Poland who had experience that seemed similar to what he envisioned. One of the engineers had worked with NASA and another with IBM.
“I had to find programmers and engineers who could help navigate over these wires. I saw it almost like a moon environment,” Martins said. “The robot has LED lights, HD cameras and special traction tires. We communicate with it and we can see what’s under the floor. I feel kind of like Jacques Cousteau driving this robot.”
The robot is about 16 inches high and 22 inches long. The system uses brushes and a vacuum that sucks dirt into a container and moves it through a filtration system. “We found 24 dead mice in one location we cleaned,” Martins said. In addition to dead rodents, the area under the floor could have harmful dust, insects or mold.
Martins holds a U.S. patent on the vacuum cleaner, vacuum-cleaning system and method of use and has an international patent pending.
“With the conventional way, you lift up a tile and can clean about 50 square feet,” said Purifad Vice President of Sales John Palazzo. “With our robotic cleaning, we can move one tile and inspect and clean 10,000 square feet. The cost is about one-third of cleaning the conventional way.”
Palazzo has been traveling around the country introducing the Purifad robotic cleaner to facilities managers for large buildings, including hospitals, schools and hotels.
“If a company has to clean half-a-million square feet the conventional way, they might need a dozen people and it could take them two-to-three weeks,” Palazzo said. “With Purifad, it would take one person four-to-five days to inspect and clean the same half-a-million square feet.”
Purifad was founded in 2011 at the same East Providence address as the parent company, Martins Maintenance.
Purifad is owned by Martins, his father, Manuel Martins Sr., and his nephew, 21-year-old Jordan Amaral, a student at Bryant University. Martins is proud of the family ownership.
“Jordan is the third generation. He’s president of Purifad,” Martins said. “He was involved in the creation of the robot.”
Palazzo said Purifad’s first major client is a national financial institution with facilities in Rhode Island, as well as other states.
Martins said the next job is expected to be at a facility in Dallas.
“There are more than 14,000 facilities in the U.S. that have these floors and it’s growing,” Martins said.
A partnership is something that might be considered at some point, Martins said. But for right now, he said Purifad is proud to be a family business with a unique technology.
“I look at our website three or four times a day,” said Martins, delighted and still somewhat amazed by the reality that’s taken shape from his idea and the persistence to bring it to fruition. “We have pioneered a cleaning system that’s taken us into the technical age.” •

COMPANY PROFILE
Purifad
OWNERS: Manuel Martins Sr., Manuel Martins Jr. and Jordan Amaral
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Robotic inspection and cleaning of raised-access flooring
LOCATION: 487 Waterman Ave., East Providence
EMPLOYEES: 6
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2011
ANNUAL SALES: WND

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