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 Researchers from Southern University of Denmark (SDU) and Lifeline
Robotics hope their prototype 'swab robot' can soon be deployed to
relieve health professionals of the potentially risky task of
testing patients.
When a patient presents an ID-card, the robot prepares a sampling
kit, performs the swab and puts the sample in a container ready for
testing, explained Thiusius Rajeeth Savarimuthu, professor of
robotics at SDU.
In a video, Savarimuthi tested the robot on himself. He positioned
his face with his chin in a plastic frame, opened his mouth wide,
and allowed a robotic arm to stick a swab into the back of his
throat and rotate it.
The robot, powered by artificial intelligence, uses cameras to find
the right part of the throat, and is programmed to swab it gently,
the developers explained.
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"You get exactly the same procedure repeated again and again which
will give better quality of the samples," Savarimuthu said.
"There's going to be a global demand, a global need for more
testing, more automated testing, to protect and shield those that
are in the front line," said the chief executive of Lifeline
Robotics, Soeren Stig.
(Reporting by Ilze Filks and Nikolaj Skydsgaard)
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