Ireland-based robotics firm pivots to US
Niamh Donnelly, co-founder and chief technology officer of Akara Robotics, spent years cleaning hospital rooms—not as a nurse, but to understand how her company’s technology could improve them. The Dublin-based startup, founded in 2019 as a spinout from Trinity College Dublin, had already developed Violet, an autonomous ultraviolet disinfection robot designed to sterilize operating theatres and wards. Donnelly’s hands-on work, however, exposed deeper problems: hospitals still used outdated tools like pagers and fax machines, while nurses spent nearly 40% of their time on manual documentation tasks.
Thermal AI replaces cameras for privacy
The company’s next innovation arrived with the Akara AI Sensor, a privacy-focused tool that uses thermal imaging to monitor room activity without capturing identifiable details. Unlike standard camera systems, it avoids video surveillance entirely, complying with European privacy laws. Installation takes less than an hour, and the device was later named one of Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2025. Its primary function is straightforward: it tells staff exactly who should be in a room at any given time, eliminating the need for nurses to relay messages or track down missing personnel.
Donnelly made privacy a core design principle, ensuring the AI generated anonymized thermal data rather than facial recognition. “We really didn’t want to do that; we don’t want to be like the Meta glasses of the hospital. It’s something that’s really important to me. We come from Europe and are privacy-safe,” Donnelly said. “Akara uses a concept called ‘privacy by design’ [that involves] thermal imagery. The image is like a white blob and you can’t tell who the person is, but the AI can understand what’s happening. So it preserves the privacy of the person.”
Despite the product’s advantages, entering the Irish market proved challenging. Hospitals there preferred established competitors, even when their solutions were less effective or more expensive. Donnelly recalled that hospitals would [opt] for a bigger, well-known company, even though their technology wasn’t as innovative or new and was way more expensive. The solution involved shifting focus to the US, where smaller surgical centers were more open to innovation. Within a year, Akara secured contracts in 11 US centers, including seven in Los Angeles. The difference extended beyond geography—American investors showed greater willingness to fund deep technology with long-term potential, even if scaling would take time.
US market shift unlocks hospital deals
Expanding into the US required a hands-on strategy. Donnelly leveraged her Irish heritage, connecting with professionals in the diaspora for introductions. She made in-person visits, starting with informal meetings, then following up with on-site demonstrations. “Investors want to see traction with customers, but [when selling to] healthcare we were finding it hard to get into Irish hospitals even though we had this tech that was better than anything on the market,” Donnelly said. “I was so surprised by [successfully] reaching out to people high up in institutions who didn’t know me and asking to meet for a coffee. I’d advise any Irish vendor going to the US to really lean on that.”
The funding environment differed sharply between markets. In Ireland, investors were cautious about backing untested hardware. In the US, venture capital firms recognized the potential—Akara now has $11 million in backing from firms on both sides of the Atlantic. Managing operations across jurisdictions added complexity, doubling the demands on compliance, legal teams, and supply chains. “You almost have two teams, two companies, two accountants, two lawyers, doubles of everything, and we didn’t really realise that.
So that was a hurdle we didn’t account for; you have to prove the return on investment. We do a baseline study of how many procedures are done each day. Then we bring in our technology and we show them after three weeks, ‘You’ve improved your processes because you have the data and you can do X more surgeries now.’ So we’ve shown up to a 17 per cent increase in the surgical volume.”
Donnelly’s experience in hospitals shaped Akara’s development approach. The company doesn’t just sell products but builds solutions tailored to real healthcare workflows. The ultimate goal is to become the standard technology partner for new hospital construction, transforming facilities into “smart hospitals” from the outset. For now, the focus remains on proving value one surgical center at a time.
AI cuts interruptions, boosts surgical efficiency
Beyond workflow improvements, the technology has addressed a persistent surgeon frustration: unplanned interruptions. The AI sensor tracks when additional personnel, such as anesthesiologists or scrub nurses, enter a room outside scheduled times, often due to poor communication. Donnelly noted the data also revealed which staff members were frequently late to rooms, allowing for targeted training on punctuality without singling anyone out.
Akara’s US expansion has also accelerated partnerships with third-party vendors. Servicon, an environmental services provider working with 35 West Coast hospitals, now integrates Akara’s disinfection robots and AI sensors into its standard service packages. This bundling has made the technology more accessible to smaller surgical centers lacking in-house IT support. Donnelly emphasized that US hospitals seek complete solutions, hardware, software, and maintenance, rather than isolated tools. The arrangement also lets Akara benefit from Servicon’s expertise in handling hospital procurement processes, a key advantage in a market with varying state regulations.
