Manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices are under great pressure. They need innovative solutions to optimize the efficiency of their operations and the quality of their products while keeping costs under control. Short research and development times and an ever faster time-to-market are further complicating matters - not to mention the lack of qualified specialists.

Robot-assisted automation can help to overcome all these challenges and increase safety for staff. This is because robots are able to complete monotonous and repetitive tasks up to 50 percent faster compared to manual execution. This not only increases productivity, but also allows well-trained staff to devote themselves to more productive tasks.

Precise, fast, flexible, tireless and ready for action 24 hours a day - thanks to these attributes, robots are ideal for repetitive tasks. However, they are also flexible enough to switch between different "jobs" as required. Due to recent technological advances, they are no longer comparable to their large and heavy predecessors, which were primarily developed for the automotive industry. Today, robots require a much smaller footprint, are more flexible, have integrated vision systems and are also available in hygienic, washable versions.

SCARAs (Selective Compliance Articulated Robot Arm) are a good example of this. They can be mounted on tables and, thanks to their small footprint, fit well into rooms with limited space, such as those typically found in pharmaceutical production facilities. Regardless of whether they are dealing with tablets, test tubes or injection syringes, SCARAs act quickly and perform point-to-point movements with precision, such as pick-and-place, parts transfer and parts handling.

Equipped with collaborative properties, robots are increasingly being used in laboratories and medical facilities. In many applications, they manage without safety fences and work reliably alongside their human colleagues. Collaboration also enables greater flexibility and efficiency, as humans and robots can share the same workspaces and even work together on the same tasks - without having to compromise on speed and safety.

Applications in laboratories and medical facilities

Modern robots are no longer only found in production environments or logistics centers. They are increasingly being integrated into medical laboratory applications, supporting research facilities in universities and the pharmaceutical industry as well as examinations and tests in the healthcare sector. Current generations of robots can perform multiple tasks, are easy to program and may soon even be able to manage and monitor other laboratory equipment.

In general laboratory tasks, for example, the collaborative robot YuMi from ABB is able to carry out a range of repetitive, delicate and time-consuming laboratory activities, such as dosing, mixing and pipetting, assembling sterile instruments and loading and unloading centrifuges. Robot-assisted systems and applications can also be used to carry out temperature-sensitive work steps. For example, the robot automatically inserts samples into special ovens and then removes them again. This ensures that the samples are incubated under the correct conditions.

YuMi is fast and its design is inherently built for safety. Thanks to padded arms without pinch points and collision detection, it can work safely with its human colleagues in relatively unstructured environments without the need for additional safety measures such as protective fencing. This allows YuMi to perform a variety of repetitive tasks at high rates, even if they require human-like dexterity or change at short notice. In collaboration with its human colleagues in the laboratory, it assists with equipment maintenance, sampling and storage as well as sample transportation and storage.

Researchers at the European Institute of Oncology have used YuMi to support staff in the preparation of an immunoassay. This is used to quantify viral antibodies. The assay preparation was extremely time-consuming, as the laboratory staff had to perform several repetitive steps, including washing the well plates. The robot was able to take over the washing process easily and reliably.

YuMi is now also in use at Copan Diagnostics in the USA. Integrated into Hepa-filtered biosafety workstations, the robot handles tissue, bone and sterile fluid samples and transports swabs and blood cultures. As soon as the technical employee has scanned a barcode, the robot automatically places certain plates and materials for sample inoculation. It then coats the plates and passes them on to a system that completes the transport process.

Free from contamination

From laboratory tests, product development and production to sorting and picking for packaging and shipping - the fact that robots can take on an ever-growing range of tasks limits human intervention to a minimum. This also reduces the risk of contamination.

Such contamination incidents, which can usually result in lengthy product recalls, undoubtedly have a devastating effect on the image of any company. Strict legal requirements also demand complete traceability in order to track down counterfeiters of medicines and medical products, for example.

By using automated systems and processes, companies can significantly minimize risks such as human error, counterfeiting or tampering. Thanks to integrated image processing, robots are able to scan barcodes on the packaging, which contain all the traceability and transaction data of the respective product. With this data, the operations management system can in turn prevent counterfeit ingredients from being used within a production process or contaminated products from being passed on to retailers or consumers.

Safety in the workplace

Safety plays a crucial role at all levels of the healthcare sector, for example in production lines for medical products as well as laboratories and hospitals. To minimize the exposure of personnel to harmful substances and biohazardous materials, robots can perform tasks that are potentially dangerous for employees.

For example, a Danish enzyme manufacturer successfully uses two so-called RobotFillers from Feige to automatically fill its products into drums. On the one hand, the resulting vapors can endanger employees. Secondly, there was not enough space available for a conventional filling system. The entire filling process therefore had to be automated and confined to a small working area.

The central component of each filling unit is the 4-axis IRB 660 robot from ABB with a load capacity of 180 kg. The RobotFiller starts its work from above as soon as the pallet is in the operating position. First, the robot moves along the calculated coordinates and calculates the positions of the bung openings on the drums. It then determines the height of the pallet and fills each container via a filling valve. Once filling is complete, the IRB 660 replaces the filling valve with a screw unit and finally attaches a metal cap.