At Meta Connect, before Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote, I randomly stumbled on Amy Hedrick, the CEO of Cleanbox. She quickly showed me their new product, the Cleanbox Nano made to sanitize smartglasses. I found it very interesting, so I snapped a picture and immediately tweeted it:
Connect has been hectic, and there were announcements that had absolute priority for this blog. But now I’ve finally found some time to ask Amy for more details, and I want to tell you what I’ve discovered. Because actually, Cleanbox is not launching only one but two new models, both focused on portability.
A primer on Cleanbox
In case you never heard about Cleanbox, let me do a quick primer for you. Cleanbox is an American company focused on providing products for the sanitization of headsets. They provide boxes where you can put your headsets in, and thanks to UVC rays, almost all the bacteria and viruses on the headsets are killed. These boxes are mostly useful in settings where headsets are used by many different people, like for instance public events, or training stations inside companies. Thanks to these boxes, you are almost sure that the headset you are wearing does not contain any potential infection from the person wearing it before you.
Cleanbox is one of the absolute market leaders in the sanitization field (there are also other notable companies, though, like Uvisan, and I made a comparison between their products here).
Cleanbox Mini
I used the Cleanbox CX1, which is the most famous Cleanbox product, multiple times. I’ve always appreciated how it is incredibly easy to use, and lab tests also certify it kills almost all bacteria on the headsets. It is definitely a good unit if you need to keep it in one place and use it a lot of times a day, for instance, in a booth at an event like AWE. But it is not definitely portable: it is a rather big box, and you need a car to move it around. If you just want to bring a Quest with you to do a demo to a few stakeholders in a company, bringing this around can be overkill.
That’s why the company announced the Cleanbox Mini. This sanitization unit is as big as the case for a standalone headset, and it easily fits in a backpack. This means you can bring it with you wherever you want. Then, when you arrive at your destination, you just put it on a desk, attach the wall plug, put the headset and the controllers inside, and in 1 minute it can kill almost all the bacteria on the device. Easy peasy.
Here are some specs for your reference:
- 1.5 pounds (680g)
- 11.5 x 9.5 x 6.5 inches (29.21 × 24.13 × 16.51 cm)
- Portable disinfection & drying
- Wall plug
- Kills 99.999% of bacteria in 1 minute
- Fits all headsets on the market + controllers + some battery add-ons (eg Kiwi)
And here are some pictures:
The price for this device is $799. You can preorder it now, and it ships in Q1 2027.
My impressions on Cleanbox Mini
I haven’t had the occasion to use or even see the Cleanbox Mini, but I personally think it is a smart idea. You don’t always need the durability and the throughput of the Cleanbox CX1, which can handle more than 50 headsets per hour. Most of the time you just need to show a demo to a few key people, and so having a portable solution is absolutely useful. I like to take public transportation, so this can be something I can carry with me when I have to meet a potential client.
It is also cheaper than the CX1: while $799 is not exactly cheap, it is definitely more affordable than $2,495, so it is also something that small teams and indie studios can buy more easily.
I want to highlight that, anyway, this is not exactly a substitute for the CX1, and every device has its own use case: CX1 can handle more people, is compatible with more headsets, and also includes USB charging for the HMD. You should buy a device depending on what you want to do with it.
Cleanbox Nano
Now let’s get back to the device I saw at Meta Connect: the Cleanbox Nano. This is not a device for VR headsets, and answers another need: the sanitization of smartglasses. Smartglasses are getting popular, and more and more companies are experimenting with them, also for enterprise use cases. But sanitizing glasses with a big box for headsets would feel like washing your hands with a washing machine. That’s why Cleanbox created another small device, specifically made for smartglasses.
The functioning is the same as usual: you open the box, put the glasses in, turn on the sanitization, wait a minute, then the bacteria are almost all dead. Easy peasy. And since some glasses work together with a band, a smartwatch, or a ring, the box also contains a holder for a watch and one for a ring. This means you can sanitize the whole set together.
Cleanbox Nano works via a wall plug, but also has an integrated battery that can last for at least 20 sanitization cycles. This means you can avoid bringing the power adapter with you, for even higher portability.
Here are some specs for your reference:
- 15 oz (425g)
- 6.5 x 6.9 x 2.8 inches (16.51 × 17.526 × 7.112 cm)
- Wall plug + battery charge for up to 20+ cycles
- Kills 99.999% of bacteria in a 1-minute cycle
- Fits AI glasses + rings+watch/wrist haptics
And here are some pictures:
The price for this toy is $399. Also in this case, you can preorder it now and receive it in Q1 2027.
My impressions on Cleanbox Nano
I was pretty impressed to see the Cleanbox Nano at Connect. When I asked Amy if she had some new product, I didn’t expect her to take it directly from her purse! It is definitely small to be a Cleanbox device. It is very portable, so you can fit it literally everywhere when you have to bring your smartglasses around. And it is great that it can disinfect rings and watches associated with the glasses, too. The price of $399 seems to me pretty good, too.
Considering all the demos I’m receiving of smartglasses recently, I think it’s definitely important to have also solutions for their sanitization. And Cleanbox nano, with its small size and portability, is surely a great option for that.
Final considerations
I really appreciated discovering these new devices by Cleanbox. I like that they are portable and also more affordable than the previous solutions. Cleanbox proves to be a great company for what concerns sanitization.
In general, I strongly advise you to use a sanitization solution if you are making public demos of XR experiences. I’ll probably dedicate a separate article about this, but it’s appalling that after 12 years in this field, I still see too many demos in exhibitions that don’t even provide the most basic sanitization before putting a headset (or glasses) on my head. So whatever solution you want to employ, whether it be Cleanbox, Uvisan, or some obscure Chinese brand you find on Taobao, consider using one of these solutions to guarantee the safety of your users!
(Header image by Cleanbox)