Press release -
COVID-19: YuMi, a collaborative robot helps analyse a higher number of serological tests
Milan, 14 September 2020 - ABB’s collaborative robot, YuMi, was used in an application designed at the Politecnico di Milano, in partnership with IEO to support hospitals in serological testing for the Coronavirus. In nominal conditions, YuMi can automate up to 77 per cent of the testing actions and helps to analyse up to 450 samples/hour.
The partial automation of the protocol for the serological tests was the work of Andrea Zanchettin, a PhD with experience in collaborative robotics and associate professor at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of the Politecnico di Milano.
Zanchettin designed the application and programmed YuMi, a robot capable of automating well plate “pipetting” during serological tests. For each test performed on a single patient, a laboratory technician has to operate the piston of the micropipette 8 times: the human thumb has to travel around 2cm, applying a force of 1.5kg.
Carrying out thousands of tests means that the operator has to perform that repetitive movement thousands of times. It is a demanding, stressful and tiresome gesture that could lead to specific clinical disorders, such as the inflammation of the tendon that keeps the thumb in a raised position.
The serological test was developed in the laboratories of the European Institute of Oncology in Milan by a group consisting of Marina Mapelli and Sebastiano Pasqualato - two biochemists - as well as Federica Facciotti - an immunologist - based on the protocol created at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York by Florian Krammer.
How does the process work?
The robot has two arms: the micropipette is attached to the left one, whilst the right has a “hand” of sorts, with two fingers which are used to handle the plates.
The technician inserts the patient’s serum into a well plate, which is manufactured in such a way that the protein component of the virus, if it is present, adheres to the plastic. In order for the virus to bond to the plastic stably, a certain incubation period is required. The excess must then be cleaned out of the plate: this is precisely where YuMi comes in. The technician positions the plates to be washed above a tray with a weight sensor, which notifies YuMi when it is required to activate and “pipette” the cleaning liquid into the wells. The robot collects the plate and moves it into position, then draws the cleaning solution from a reservoir and fills the plate. It then draws the solution back out of each well and discards it, repeating this operation a total of 3 times: overall, the entire process takes around 3 minutes to complete. At the end, YuMi retrieves the plate and places it on the tray for washed plates.
YuMi is a collaborative robot produced and lent free of charge by ABB as part of the long-lasting, strategic partnership with the Politecnico di Milano known as the Joint Research Centre (www.polimi.it/ricerca-scientifica/la-ricerca-al-politecnico/joint-research-centres-jrc/). It is a multifunctional machine that can be used to ensure repetitiveness in industry and other sectors, such as hospitals and analysis laboratories. YuMi is certified for use in clean rooms (ISO 5).
“Robotised collaborative automation has incredible potential in the healthcare sector,” according to Oscar Ferrato, Collaborative Robots Product Manager at ABB. “We at ABB are pleased to have contributed to the development of this interesting and innovative project”.
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Politecnico di Milano is a scientific-technological university which trains engineers, architects and industrial designers.
The University has always focused on the quality and innovation of its teaching and research, developing a fruitful relationship with business and productive world by means of experimental research and technological transfer.
Research has always been linked to didactics and it is a priority commitment which has allowed Politecnico Milano to achieve high quality results at an international level as to join the university to the business world. Research constitutes a parallel path to that formed by cooperation and alliances with the industrial system.
Knowing the world in which you are going to work is a vital requirement for training students. By referring back to the needs of the industrial world and public administration, research is facilitated in following new paths and dealing with the need for constant and rapid innovation. The alliance with the industrial world, in many cases favored by Fondazione Politecnico and by consortiums to which Politecnico belong, allows the university to follow the vocation of the territories in which it operates and to be a stimulus for their development.
The challenge which is being met today projects this tradition which is strongly rooted in the territory beyond the borders of the country, in a relationship which is developing first of all at the European level with the objective of contributing to the creation of a single professional training market. Politecnico takes part in several research, sites and training projects collaborating with the most qualified European universities. Politecnico's contribution is increasingly being extended to other countries: from North America to Southeast Asia to Eastern Europe. Today the drive to internationalization sees Politecnico Milano taking part into the European and world network of leading technical universities and it offers several courses beside many which are entirely taught in English.
