Six months after serial entrepreneur and cancer surgeon then- Clinical Assistant Professor Rena Dharmawan first conceptualised the idea, she along with a team of clinicians from the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) and engineers from local medical robotics company Biobot Surgical unveiled SwabBot, the world’s first automated nasal swab robot.
The robot prototype, which occupies about the space of a large house cat on a table, is fast but gentle. Its entire collection process lasts just 20 seconds, half the time of a manual swab test. Despite its mechanical appearance, it has a soft touch, delivered with surgical precision. It is fully controlled by the person being tested, making the experience less uncomfortable.
“When patients are empowered and fully in control of the swabbing process, they are mentally prepared and experience subjectively less pain,” said Dharmawan, a then-associate consultant at NCCS and then-Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Duke-NUS’ Centre for Technology and Development, in an interview at the time.
SOURCE: THE BIG STORY BY THE STRAITS TIMES (YOUTUBE)
The promise of SwabBot was to reduce the risks and costs of manual swabbing. Nasal samples would be more accurate, while swabbers would be less likely to be exposed to the virus. and need less training to do their work.
“SwabBot never needs to stop for lunch and never suffers from fatigue,” said Dr Luke Tay, one of the project’s team members and a consultant at Singapore General Hospital at the time.
“Furthermore, the sample quality remains consistent even though nose structures can vary in size and shapes.”