KUKA robots are used for outbreak detection

According to the information recently released by China's National Health Commission, as of May 19, the country has announced that 449.511 million doses of new crown vaccines have been administered, of which more than 100 million doses have been administered in the last eight days. With the change of the global epidemic situation, although the virus is constantly mutating, it has not yet completely escaped the role of vaccines. However, because vaccines are not being administered fast enough around the world, the possibility of eventually mutating and escaping strains is increasing. Therefore, people need to be prepared for a long time to respond, while doing a good job of vaccination, while doing a good job of epidemic detection, and timely isolation and treatment of infected people.

KUKA robots are used for outbreak detection

As with vaccination, the detection of the epidemic is a daunting and profound task: doctors need to collect samples from the mouth and nose of suspected patients, which are then sent to laboratories, and then doctors use straws and industrial scales to mix nasopharyngeal swabs of suspected patients with solvents to examine the genetic material of the coronavirus. However, medical staff face two major challenges in the process:

The inspection operator should be very careful when fusing the collected sample with the chemical reagent with the help of a straw, and also need to use an industrial crane to check whether the correct amount of liquid has been added, otherwise the test result will be affected;

When the epidemic was in a severe period, the number of samples required by laboratory inspectors to be examined increased sharply, which brought huge operational pressure.

In the laboratory of the Bulovka Hospital in Prague, KUKA lightweight robot LBR iiwa has been on a mission since mid-March 2020 in the laboratory of the Bulovka Hospital in Prague. About 300 to 400 samples are processed here every day, and up to 670 samples were required per day at the peak of the pandemic.

Faster and more accurate, reducing operational hazards

The use of the inspection robot has greatly simplified the inspection process and reduced the risk of errors in manually taking samples, says Lenka Richterová of the hospital's clinical microbiology department. Inspection robots perform processes accurately and reduce the workload on lab technicians, allowing them to focus on other parts of the process. ”

More efficient, continuous operation throughout the day

KUKA robots are fearless of the coronavirus, do not need masks, and are tireless, and can inspect around 700 samples per day, which is very efficient. Of course, the efficiency of the KUKA robot is not only reflected in the inspection work, but also in the entire laboratory construction process, which took only 14 days from the first program meeting to the first time it was used in the laboratory.

Researchers and students from the Technical University of Prague (CTU), under the leadership of Prof. Václav Hlaváč, specially planned the KUKA robot with a straw and a computer-controlled scale, and programmed it for the operation of the extraction.

At present, the new crown epidemic is still raging around the world, and countries around the world are still exposed to the danger of the epidemic. Fearless of the epidemic, KUKA robots can provide assistance around the clock, demonstrating their strength in helping the medical industry to innovate and upgrade. In the future, KUKA will continue to bring more practical and effective automation solutions to protect human health!

KUKA robots are used for outbreak detection

Sections viewed

Contact

working hours