After days and nights of hard work, nucleic acid sampling robot was born in Shanghai Institute of artificial intelligence. It is mounted on the "SAIRI SAIRI" intelligent nucleic acid sampling vehicle developed by the Research Institute in cooperation with Chery holding group and jieka robot, which can replace manpower and complete the whole process of nucleic acid sampling. The reporter came to jieka robot company today and experienced the work of robot "sampler". He felt that its sampling operation was very standardized and the action of "poking his throat" was very gentle.
Let the intelligent robot complete nucleic acid sampling
Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute is a new R & D institution jointly invested and initiated by Shanghai Jiaotong University, Minhang District government, Lingang group and Shangtang technology. Song Haitao, executive director, said that after the outbreak of this round of epidemic in Shanghai, the Institute quickly established a special class for digital epidemic prevention to tackle key technical problems. For nucleic acid sampling, they put forward the concept of "moving and immobile in the car", so as to reduce the risk of cross infection during sampling and establish a protective barrier for medical personnel sampling in the car. After sampling, the nucleic acid sampling truck directly transports the samples to the laboratory, which can improve the detection efficiency.
According to this concept, Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute and enterprises jointly developed the first generation of nucleic acid sampling vehicle. At present, nearly 80 new energy nucleic acid sampling vehicles have been put into use. They are deployed in six districts such as Xuhui, Minhang, Hongkou, Pudong, Changning and Huangpu, shuttling through streets and alleys, campuses, parks and other places.
"With the normalization of nucleic acid sampling, we are organizing a special class to develop the second-generation nucleic acid sampling vehicle, hoping to comprehensively improve its intelligence and digitization." Liu Yanjing, vice president of Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, told reporters. The research and development of nucleic acid sampling robot is the focus of this project.
Under the guidance of the Municipal Commission of economy and information technology, Yan Weixin, chief scientist of the intelligent medical center of Shanghai Institute of artificial intelligence and associate researcher of the school of mechanical and power engineering of Shanghai Jiaotong University, cooperated with the jieka robot technology team to develop the dual arm robot and its supporting equipment in a very short time. "The mechanical arm we use is the minicobo cooperative robot with the electric claw removed from the robot in the company's exhibition hall. Most of the other equipment is printed in 3D. After the full resumption of work, we will open the mold and do machining." Yan Weixin pointed to the robot in the nucleic acid sampling car.
"Vision + force control" to ensure accuracy and safety
The two arms of the robot are in a "heart to heart" position, and with a pair of big eyes, it looks naive. What is its business capability? The reporter experienced it personally.
First, the reporter opened the nucleic acid code on the mobile phone and finished scanning the code in a window of the smart nucleic acid sampling car. Subsequently, the reporter came to another window to face with the robot "sampler". "Please open your mouth." According to the voice prompt, the reporter took off the mask and opened his mouth. The electric claw of the robot's right arm grabbed a cotton swab and slowly extended it to his throat. After touching the posterior pharyngeal wall, the mechanical arm began to collect secretions three times on the left and three times on the right. The rotation action was very standard and did not bring discomfort.
After sampling, the right arm of the robot retracts slowly; At the same time, the electric claw of the left arm grabs a test tube, extends it to the cap screwing device installed on the top of the vehicle, screws off the cap of the test tube, and then keeps the nozzle upward and moves to the right and down. At this time, the right hand of the robot puts the cotton swab into the test tube grabbed by the left hand, and then uses a device to cut off the cotton swab. Then, the left arm extends the test tube to the cap screwing device again, tightens the cap, and then puts it into the test tube rack.
After these processes are completed, the robot work area will be spray disinfected. The car is also equipped with ultraviolet light tubes to kill possible viruses.
Why can the robot complete pharyngeal swab sampling accurately and safely? Yan Weixin explained that the robot is equipped with vision and force control sensors. With visual sensor, it can recognize the position of human face and whether the opening action of mouth meets the sampling requirements. If yes, the mechanical arm will extend the cotton swab into the mouth, and then use the endoscopic vision system to detect the oral environment, identify the tonsils, and guide the cotton swab to collect the secretions near the tonsils. The force control sensor can feed back the force control data in real time to control the force of the manipulator within the safety threshold.
"Visual guidance plus force control feedback is the characteristic of cooperative robot. When the collision torque reaches the set upper limit of torque, the robot will immediately make adaptive adjustment to fully ensure the safe cooperation between man and machine." Tan Zhili, deputy general manager of jieka robot, said that in addition to the new post of nucleic acid sampling, cooperative robots have been applied to many fields, such as intelligent manufacturing, smart restaurant, limb rehabilitation and so on.
Developing driverless nucleic acid sampling vehicle
In the near future, the intelligent nucleic acid sampling vehicle equipped with sampling robot is expected to be put into application. There is only one driver in the car. The sampling work is completely handed over to the robot. It takes only about 30 seconds to complete an unmanned nucleic acid sampling. Due to the positive pressure equipment installed in the vehicle, there is no risk of infection even if the driver does not wear protective clothing. The vehicle will also be equipped with nucleic acid detection equipment to realize the "integration of collection and inspection".
Zhang Xi, chief scientist of the intelligent networking center of Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute and professor of Shanghai Jiaotong University, revealed that the research institute is also developing the third generation of intelligent nucleic acid sampling vehicle, which can be used in hospitals, parks, communities in the future through core technologies such as "sampling + detection" closed-loop unmanned operation, behavior prediction of driverless traffic participants, high-power resonant wireless charging and so on Under various complex scenarios such as the plant, realize the functions of driverless and unmanned power collection, and match the safety early warning of on-board power battery, rapid detection intelligent equipment, etc., so as to promote the evolution of nucleic acid sampling vehicle to the direction of high efficiency, high safety and unmanned.
(the photos and videos in this article are for the R & D personnel to demonstrate the sampling process.)