The made-in-Singapore bot allows patients to fully control the swab process for more comfort (Photo: straitstimes) Singapore (VNA) - A robot carrying out nasalswabbing to diagnose COVID-19 has been developed by Singaporean clinicians, whosay the automated procedure is safe, faster and more comfortable compared withmanual swab tests.
The machine, which is 35cm by 40cm, and 49cm high, wasdeveloped by clinicians from the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) andSingapore General Hospital (SGH), in collaboration with medical roboticscompany Biobot Surgical.
The team said the robot can address the limitations andrisks of manual swabbing. It reduces swabbers' risk of exposure to the virusand the need for training people, standardises the consistency of swabs taken,and increases the efficiency of conducting swab tests.
Although similar robots have been developed in othercountries, the made-in-Singapore bot was said to be the first that allowspatients to fully control the swab process so they are more comfortable.Patients can activate and terminate the machine at will.
With the robot, the testing process takes 20 seconds, whilea manual swab test can take twice as long.
To date, 85 patients and volunteers haveparticipated in the ongoing clinical trial that compares SwabBot against manualswabbing. The participants’ feedback received was positive.
SingHealth and Biobot Surgical have filed a patent forSwabBot's technology. Biobot is also working to commercialise the robot./.
The machine, which is 35cm by 40cm, and 49cm high, wasdeveloped by clinicians from the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) andSingapore General Hospital (SGH), in collaboration with medical roboticscompany Biobot Surgical.
The team said the robot can address the limitations andrisks of manual swabbing. It reduces swabbers' risk of exposure to the virusand the need for training people, standardises the consistency of swabs taken,and increases the efficiency of conducting swab tests.
Although similar robots have been developed in othercountries, the made-in-Singapore bot was said to be the first that allowspatients to fully control the swab process so they are more comfortable.Patients can activate and terminate the machine at will.
With the robot, the testing process takes 20 seconds, whilea manual swab test can take twice as long.
To date, 85 patients and volunteers haveparticipated in the ongoing clinical trial that compares SwabBot against manualswabbing. The participants’ feedback received was positive.
SingHealth and Biobot Surgical have filed a patent forSwabBot's technology. Biobot is also working to commercialise the robot./.
VNA
