14 DAY TRIAL // Three Japanese organizations, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Ookuma Electric Co. Ltd and Applied Vision Systems Co. (AVS), have devised a robotic system which will eliminate human errors from hospital medicine dispensing.
The robot, using 3D measurement and object recognition technologies, is able to handle ampoules (a small glass vial that is sealed after filling and used chiefly as a container for a hypodermic injection solution), without being sorted.
Currently, pharmacists dispense medicine from ampoules based on doctors' prescriptions. At big hospitals, the amount of medicine dispensed is quite large, so the burden on pharmacists is also quite large, resulting in up to 15% of malpractice cases stemming from the dispensation of incorrect medicines.
For this reason, a robot that can handle and dispense the substances from the ampoules was required. The recognition of the vials is done by reading the bar codes on them.
One of the biggest issues facing the developers was finding a way for the system to recognize and identify the ampoules. Because of the glossy surfaces, not even a traditional three-dimensional system was able to recognize the containers. The Japanese engineers employed an advanced 3D vision system, so that, with the help of a multiple camera system, even items with glossy surfaces could be detected.