Smart throat-swabbing robot protects medical staff from infection

An intelligent robot that can collect throat swabs has been put into clinic trial to protect medical staff from viral infection.

The latest version of the diagnostic and treatment guidelines for the COVID-19 suggests that a patient could be discharged after three negative nucleic acid tests and multiple biological sample testing.

Throat swab testing is one of the main methods of biological sample testing to confirm novel coronavirus infection.

However, throat swabbing requires medical staff to have close contact with patients, which makes them vulnerable to cross infection. At the same time, there is a chance of a "false negative" due to medical staff's professional skill, psychological state and other variables.

The robot, which makes direct contact with human tissue, is equipped with a mechanical arm, binocular endoscope, wireless transmitting equipment and man-machine interaction terminal. Medical staff can control the robot remotely to collect throat swabs.

Co-developed by a team led by top Chinese respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan and Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the robot is meant to prevent medical personnel from infection and improve the accuracy of biological sample collection.

So far, 80 samples have been collected from 20 subjects. With a success rate of over 95 percent, the robot can collect throat swabs without hurting the subject's throat.