Automation could be the key to the UK government achieving 100,000 coronavirus tests a day, cobot OEM Universal Robots has said.
The news follows health secretary Matt Hancock’s pledge to ramp up test production in order to reach the government’s 100,000 daily testing target.
“Automation is key in achieving this goal,” said Mark Gray, country manager, UK and Ireland, at Universal Robots.
Whilst production facilities are hit by labour shortages and social distancing regulations, effective implementation of cobots could help alleviate these issues.
“There’s a simple but crucial machine tending role for cobots who can place samples into and out of diagnostic machines non-stop, 24/7,” explained Gray.
“This eliminates the over-reliance on human workers, who are often placed on the front-lines in high-risk environments.”
According to Gray, cobots can effectively augment human workers, allowing them to take on less physically intensive activities and apply their efforts elsewhere, such as in strategic decision-making or streamlining operations.
“Not only this, but cobots can be easily programmed and integrated into a production line with minimal downtime, allowing the government to ramp up productions, and hit its test targets,” said Gray.
Want to read more stories like this?
https://www.roboticsandautomationmagazine.co.uk/robotic-platform-to-boost-uk-coronavirus-testing-capacity/
https://www.roboticsandautomationmagazine.co.uk/robotics-platform-enables-mass-scale-covid-19-immunity-btest/
