Tongji University released the first autonomous intelligent robot for needle-free vaccine injection in China, which can automatically find the injection site and complete the vaccine injection unmanned.
Needle-free vaccine injections are already in use in some countries, but such robots are at the forefront of a global trend. In November 2021, a Canadian company Cobionix announced that they had developed the world’s first vaccine-injecting robot that can administer vaccines in an autonomous, painless and needle-free manner.
Qi Peng, a professor from the R&D team of the university, said that the robot can automatically identify the most suitable injection location on the human body by using a cloud camera to photograph the body through the 3D model recognition algorithm.
Qi said that the robot is suitable for rapid and continuous injection. The drug injection can be completed within half a second, with the accuracy reaching 0.01milliliters, which can be applied to different vaccine requirements for injection dose.
It also has an injection depth adjustment function, which can be applied to different kinds of vaccines injected subcutaneously or intramuscularly, Qi said.
According to the professor, in the future, the robot can be used in hospitals or community clinics, as well as mobile vaccination vehicles, increasing the efficiency of vaccine injection.
Despite the huge potential of robots in healthcare, the needle-free vaccine injection robot is still at a prototype stage, and its clinical safety and effectiveness need to be verified through controlled trials.
Qi said that the team will conduct further clinical validation to bring the new product to the market, noting that in the future, medical robots will become an indispensable item of equipment for healthcare workers, reducing the burden on medical staff.
A man receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccine clinic in San Antonio, Texas, the United States, Jan. 9, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua)
