Companies aren't the only organizations remaking themselves into digital enterprises to meet customers' needs. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, food banks accelerated their digital trans formations to get more food more quickly to more people in need. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, food banks accelerated their digital transformations to get more food more quickly to more people in need. One of them is The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), which estimates it distributed 56 percent more food in 2020 than the previous year because of the pandemic. Although crisis-related hardships have begun to recede, demand for charitable food aid in GBFB's eastern Massachusetts service area remains significant.

Researchers from MIT have developed a new way to keep shared spaces free of the coronavirus and other pathogens: a UVC light-equipped robot. UVC light is capable of disinfecting surfaces and neutralizing aerosolized virus particles, but it's dangerous for humans to be exposed. With this in mind, MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) teamed up with Ava Robotics to develop a robot that can travel through and disinfect spaces autonomously. The partners added a custom UVC light fixture designed by CSAIL to Ava Robotics' mobile robot base. They deployed the prototype at the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB).