Test robot can process 20 000 samples for Covid testing every day

Ziath, experts in Sample Management with 2D Barcodes, has worked alongside the Hubrecht Institute to design and produce a new electronic test robot, STRIP-1. This robot is quicker than any other computerised covid testing networks and has the potential to take and manage 20,000 SARS-CoV-2 testing samples each day.

The company has designed the process to allow tracking and online returns, with each sample having a 2D barcode attached. The result of the test can be sent back to the individual online which takes the pressure off workers in laboratories who experienced an overburden over the course of the first wave of the pandemic.

Wouter De Laat, group leader at the Hubrecht Institute, said “We hoped that we could organize everything in a faster and more intelligent way by using robots, so that became our focus almost immediately,”

Martijn Bosch designed the STRIP-1 robot, he said “Not just the new robot system, but also the whole chain of events posed a challenge. From sample collection, registration, the logistics and the tracking of samples to the test itself and reporting the results, basically the entire chain of events from patient to test and back, that was the big challenge.”