Robotic Dispensing Research Articles

Automatic Robotic Crop Disease Detection and Pesticide Dispenser Using Machine Learning

Automatic Robotic Crop Disease Detection and Pesticide Dispenser Using Machine Learning

Continuous Monitoring of Soil Nitrate Using a Miniature Sensor with Poly(3-octyl-thiophene) and Molybdenum Disulfide Nanocomposite

There is an unmet need for improved fertilizer management in agriculture. Continuous monitoring of soil nitrate would address this need. This paper reports an all-solid-state miniature potentiometric soil sensor that works in direct contact with soils to monitor nitrate-nitrogen (NO3--N) in soil solution with parts-per-million (ppm) resolution. A working electrode is formed from a novel nanocomposite of poly(3-octyl-thiophene) and molybdenum disulfide (POT-MoS2) coated on a patterned Au electrode and covered with a nitrate-selective membrane using a robotic dispenser. The POT-MoS2 layer acts as an ion-to-electron transducing layer with high hydrophobicity and redox properties. The modification of the POT chain with MoS2 increases both conductivity and anion exchange, while minimizing the formation of a thin water layer at the interface between the Au electrode and the ion-selective membrane, which is notorious for solid-state potentiometric ion sensors. Therefore, the use of POT-MoS2 results in an improved sensitivity and selectivity of the working electrode. The reference electrode comprises a screen-printed silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrode covered by a protonated Nafion layer to prevent chloride (Cl-) leaching in long-term measurements. This sensor was calibrated using both standard and extracted soil solutions, exhibiting a dynamic range that includes all concentrations relevant for agricultural applications (1-1500 ppm NO3--N). With the POT-MoS2 nanocomposite, the sensor offers a sensitivity of 64 mV/decade for nitrate detection, compared to 48 mV/decade for POT and 38 mV/decade for MoS2. The sensor was embedded into soil slurries where it accurately monitored nitrate for a duration of 27 days.

Block Copolymer Amphiphile Phase Diagrams by High-Throughput Transmission Electron Microscopy

In this paper, we show the rapid generation of phase diagrams for block copolymer amphiphiles. We demonstrate the high-throughput approach for two separate types of amphiphilic block copolymers: One type consisting of poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate) and the other consisting of poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate)-b-poly(2-hydroxypropyl methacrylate), where each amphiphilic block copolymer was prepared by systematically varying the degree of polymerization of the hydrophobic block. These were each synthesized in 96-well plates using polymerization-induced self-assembly to rapidly generate a range of morphologies in aqueous solution. In this manner, 45 different assembled polymer samples were prepared at a time. These samples were sampled by automated picoliter volume liquid handling (piezoelectric robotic dispenser) and analyzed by automated transmission electron microscopy and automated image analysis to rapidly generate phase diagrams.

Autonomous motion planning and task execution in geometrically adaptive robotized construction work

Abstract This research explores a means by which a construction robot can leverage its sensors and a Building Information Model (BIM) to perceive and model the actual geometry of its workpieces, adapt its work plan, and execute work in a construction environment. The adaptive framework uses the Generalized Resolution Correlative Scan Matching (GRCSM) search algorithm for model registration, a new formulation for fill plan adaptation, and new hardware for robotic material dispensing. Joint filling is used as a case study to demonstrate the formulation of an adaptive plan and evaluate a robot's ability to perform adaptive work in an environment where the actual location and geometry of its workpieces may deviate from their designed counterparts. Averaged across five experiments, the robot was found capable of identifying the true position and orientation of the joint's center with a mean norm positioning error of 0.11 mm and orientation error of 1.1°. The adaptive framework offers significant promise for a range of construction activities, including those involving objects of complex geometry and detailed work.

Proactive medicines management supports more patient centric services

Introduction (context and problem statement): The current New Zealand (NZ) Health System is under pressure as our population ages and the burden of long-term conditions (LTC) such as diabetes, heart disease and dementia grows. LTC consume a vast amount of resources in NZ – both in terms of direct health care and the indirect costs on society as a whole. Short description of practice change implemented: Waimauku Pharmacy is committed to continuous quality improvement in all that we do. Over the past two years, we have evaluated and have been optimising our workflow and business design to deliver innovative patient—centred care. Aim and theory of change: Waimauku Pharmacy’s aim has been to redesign our model of care and Medicines Management Services (MMS) to deliver proactive, quality, patient-centred care to patients and whaanau. Our critical success factors have been: Collaboration with primary care team Redesign of workflow and model of care Making better use of pharmacist and technicians unique skills set Adapting smart IT systems including robotic dispensing and Whanau Tahi Shared Care Targeted population and stakeholders Target population- Patients and whaanau with long term conditions/high needs Stakeholders- Patients, community pharmacists, technicians, GPs, nurses and other members of patients care team Timeline: Our improvement journey started 2 years ago and it has been continuously reviewed, improved, modified and added too as time goes on. Highlights (innovation, impact and outcomes): Placing the patient at the centre of care has enabled us to support them proactively to manage their medicines better. Over the improvement journey, we have already seen many benefits, such as: Increased collaboration amongst Primary Care team members Ability to enrol more patients (from 70-190 patients in 2 years) into Medications Management Service as a result of efficiencies in dispensing and medication management workflows Major quality and safety contributions from medicines reconciliation for at-risk patients Better management of pharmacy staff and workload meaning more time spent working with the patient Created a Health Literate workplace Pharmacists and technicians working at the top of our scope of practice Comments on sustainability: Our key has been to plan in collaboration with staff from the pharmacy and GP practice so that we had buy-in and engagement throughout the journey. It was also important to communicate openly and regularly and provide on-going support and opportunity for feedback. Our objectives also align with the NZ Health Strategic vision of empowering people to ‘live well, get well, stay well’, closer to home. Comments on transferability We feel that our service model can be adapted by any committed pharmacy and primary care team. Conclusions: As IT ability has expanded, and as the business environment has changed and staff have developed confidence and respect for each other’s skills we have truly innovated the way we provide care to our patients and whaanau. We value spending more time getting to know our patients, really understanding their needs and have been able to offer more services targeted towards higher-needs patients.

Exploring the current and future role of the pharmacists in osteoporosis screening and management in Malaysia.

Background Several studies have found that pharmacists can assist in screening and prevention of osteoporosis by referring patients for bone mineral density scans and counselling on lifestyle changes. In Malaysia, screening osteoporosis in all elderly women is not mandatory due to its cost. One approach to address this gap is to develop a pharmacist-led osteoporosis screening and prevention program. However, there is a paucity of data on the perspectives of Malaysian pharmacists in this area. Objective To explore the perspective of stakeholders (policy makers, doctors, pharmacists, nurses and patients) towards the role of pharmacists in osteoporosis screening and management. Setting A primary care clinic located within a teaching hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Method Patients (n=20), nurses (n=10), pharmacists (n=11), doctors (n=10) and policy makers (n=5) were individually interviewed using a semi-structured topic guide. Purposive sampling was used. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Main outcome measure Perspective of stakeholders on the current and future role of pharmacists. Results All participants perceived pharmacists to be suppliers of medication, although there was some recognition of roles in providing medication advice. Nonetheless, these stakeholders were eager for pharmacists to expand their non-dispensing roles towards counselling, creating awareness and screening of osteoporosis. Interviewed pharmacists referred to their current role as 'robotic dispensers' and unanimously agreed to spread out to osteoporosis management role. Conclusion Under stakeholders there is a willingness to expand the role of pharmacists in Malaysia to non-dispensing roles, particularly in osteoporosis screening and management.

Homogeneous and highly controlled deposition of low viscosity inks and application on fully printable perovskite solar cells

The fully printed, hole-transporter-free carbon perovskite solar cell structure incorporating a triple mesoscopic layer has emerged as a possible frontrunner for early industrialisation. It is an attractive structure because it can be fabricated by the simple sequential screen printing and sintering of titania, zirconia, and carbon. The device is finalised by manual dropping of a perovskite precursor solution onto the carbon which subsequently infiltrates. This stage in device fabrication is inhomogeneous, ineffective for large areas, and prone to human error. Here we introduce an automated deposition and infiltration system using a robotic dispenser and mesh which delivers the perovskite precursor uniformly to the carbon surface over a large area. It has been successfully used to prepare perovskite solar cells with over 9% efficiency. Cells, prepared by this robotic mesh deposition, showed comparable performance to reference cells, made by standard drop deposition, confirming this approach to be effective and reliable. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were used to confirm the uniformity of the deposition over a large area.

Influence of shear thinning and material flow on robotic dispensing of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate/poloxamer 407 hydrogels

ABSTRACTRobotic dispensing of hydrogels offers a direct way for generating complex hydrogel shapes. For this, there is a general need for hydrogel formulations with suitable rheological properties. In this contribution, hydrogel formulations containing poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEG‐DA) and Poloxamer 407 are characterized regarding their flow behavior during robotic dispensing. Formulations contain between 15% and 20% PEG‐DA and 22.5% and 25% Poloxamer 407. All formulations show shear thinning which can be described using a power law with a power law index between 0.10 and 0.11 and calculated shear rates at the wall of the dispensing needle of 379 s−1with a dispensing speed of 8 mm s−1and a dispensing needle inner diameter of 0.51 mm. Thus, facilitating the generation of smooth hydrogel strands, three‐dimensional hydrogel objects can be prepared without flow after robotic dispensing and can be cured afterward to elastic hydrogels, retaining the shape of the dispensed object. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci.2017,134, 45083.

Fabrication of a Micro/Nanofluidic Platform Via Three-Axis Robotic Dispensing System

The purpose of this work is to introduce a new fabrication technique for creating a fluidic platform with embedded micro- or nanoscale channels. This new technique includes: (1) a three-axis robotic dispensing system for drawing micro/nanoscale suspended polymer fibers at prescribed locations, combined with (2) dry film resist photolithography, and (3) replica molding. This new technique provides flexibility and precise control of the micro- and nano-channel location with the ability to create multiple channels of varying sizes embedded in a single fluidic platform. These types of micro/nanofluidic platforms are attractive for numerous applications, such as the separation of biomolecules, cell transport, and transport across cell membranes via electroporation. The focus of this work is on the development of a fabrication technique for the creation of a nanoscale electroporation device.

Experimentally verified model of viscoelastic behavior of multilayer unimorph dielectric elastomer actuators

This work presents a linear viscoelastic model to describe the time-dependent actuation behavior of multilayer unimorph dielectric elastomer actuators (MUDEA), with experimental validation by actuators produced by a robotic dispenser system. MUDEA are a type of soft actuator which can produce large bending deformation without prestretch typically required by dielectric elastomer actuators. Current analytical and finite element models of MUDEA do not consider material viscoelasticity and cannot predict the change over time of performance metrics such as tip displacement and blocking force. The linear viscoelastic model presented in this work is based on a linear elastic model for the MUDEA extended to account for viscous effects by the elastic–viscoelastic correspondence principle. The model is easily implemented because it is based on explicit expressions which can be evaluated numerically by any computer algebra system. The model was used to predict the tip displacement and blocking force of MUDEAs consisting of two, four, six, eight, and ten layers of dielectric elastomer material. The model predictions agreed well with experimental data obtained from MUDEA produced by a robotic dispenser system, which was capable of producing multilayered structures of thin layers of dielectric elastomer and carbon nanotube based electrode material.

A single-step lithography system based on an enhanced robotic adhesive dispenser.

In the paper, we present a single-step lithography system whereby the robotically controlled micro-extrusion of resist adhesive onto a substrate surface to directly create resist adhesive patterns of interest. This system is modified from a robotic adhesive dispenser by shrinking the aperture of the nozzle to a few micrometers aiming to realize patterns at microscale. From experimental investigation, it is found that working factors including writing speed, working time, and applied pressure can be adopted to conveniently regulate the feature size (the width of the line features and the diameter of the dot features). To test its functionality, the system was used to pattern line features on silicon dioxide (SiO2) and generate an array of square-like silicon microstructure by combining with wet etching. It provides a simple and flexible alternative tool to facilitate the development of microfabrication.

Extrusion printing for fabrication of spherical and cylindrical microlens arrays.

In this paper, we present an extrusion printing technique for producing spherical and cylindrical plano-convex microlens arrays with controllable feature dimensions. This technique employs a robotic adhesive dispenser for robotically controlled microextrusion of ultraviolet (UV) curable polymer onto a glass substrate surface to directly deposit the microlens arrays. It provides a simple and flexible alternative to fabricate both spherical and cylindrical microlens arrays.

3D bioprinting technology for regenerative medicine applications

 Alternative strategies that overcome existing organ transplantation methods are of increasing importance because of ongoing demands and lack of adequate organ donors. Recent improvements in tissue engineering techniques offer improved solutions to this problem and will influence engineering and medicinal applications. Tissue engineering employs the synergy of cells, growth factors and scaffolds besides others with the aim to mimic the native extracellular matrix for tissue regeneration. Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting has been explored to create organs for transplantation, medical implants, prosthetics, in vitro models and 3D tissue models for drug testing. In addition, it is emerging as a powerful technology to provide patients with severe disease conditions with personalized treatments. Challenges in tissue engineering include the development of 3D scaffolds that closely resemble native tissues. In this review, existing printing methods such as extrusion-based, robotic dispensing, cellular inkjet, laser-assisted printing and integrated tissue organ printing (ITOP) are examined. Also, natural and synthetic polymers and their blends as well as peptides that are exploited as bioinks are discussed with emphasis on regenerative medicine applications. Furthermore, applications of 3D bioprinting in regenerative medicine, evolving strategies and future perspectives are summarized.

Using Evidence-Based Design to Improve Pharmacy Department Efficiency.

Using a case study of a pharmacy department rebuild in the South West of England, this article examines the use of evidence-based design to improve the efficiency and staff well-being with a new design. This article compares three designs, the current design, an anecdotal design, and an evidence-based design, to identify how evidence-based design can improve efficiency and staff well-being by reducing walking time and distance. Data were collected from the existing building and used to measure the efficiency of the department in its current state. These data were then mapped onto an anecdotal design, produced by architects from interviews and workshops with the end users, and an evidence-based design, produced by highlighting functions with high adjacencies. This changed the view on the working processes within the department, shifting away from a focus on the existing robotic dispensing system. Using evidence-based design was found to decrease the walking time and distance for staff by 24%, as opposed to the anecdotal design, which increased these parameters by 9%, and is predicted to save the department 248 min across 2 days in staff time spent walking.

Pharmacy robotic dispensing and planogram analysis using association rule mining with prescription data

Automation in pharmacies has achieved innovative levels of effectiveness and savings. In the present day, automated pharmacies are facing extremely large demands of prescription orders specifically at the central fill pharmacies that distribute drugs to retail pharmacies. As a result, improvements are necessary to the Robotic Prescription Dispensing System (RPDS) and RPDS planogram to increase the throughput of prescriptions. RPDS planogram defines where to allocate the dispensers inside the robotic unit and how to distribute them among the multiple robotic units. This research utilizes the pharmacy prescriptions database to extract useful knowledge to improve different strategies in pharmacy automation by using a data mining approach. In this study, a data mining tool is proposed to enhance pharmacy automation. Frequent Pattern Growth (FP-growth) approach, which is one of the algorithms of Association Rule Mining (ARM), is applied to an actual prescriptions database of a central fill pharmacy to study the associations within the prescribed drug regime. The FP-growth application in a prescriptions database is novel; thus, FP-growth is tested on both sequential mode, and parallel mode by using a distributed platform Hadoop and MapReduce paradigm. Two types of association rules are extracted: 1) associations among different drugs that involve their different dosage strengths and manufacturers; and 2) associations that include only information about different drug generic and brand names. The importance of the extracted association rules is evaluated by the use of different measures, including the support, confidence, lift and conviction. The discovered rules disclose strong associations among the purchased drugs that improve the allocation and distribution of dispensers among the robotic units, in addition to enhancements in other pharmacy managerial strategies.

Bioprinting technique incorporating topographical guidance for stem cell alignment, precision deposition and promoting cardiomyocyte differentiation

Event Abstract Back to Event Bioprinting technique incorporating topographical guidance for stem cell alignment, precision deposition and promoting cardiomyocyte differentiation Ramya Bhuthalingam1, Pei Qi Lim1, Scott A. Irvine1, Animesh Agrawal1, Priyadarshini S. Mhaisalkar1, An Jia2, Chee Kai Chua2 and Subbu S. Venkatraman1 1 Nanyang Technological University, School of Material Science & Engineering, Singapore 2 Nanyang Technological University, School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Singapore Introduction: Bioprinting is greatly aided by the use of automated robotic dispensing systems for the delivery of biomaterials and cells. The robotic dispensing systems allow precision control for placement and patterning down to 10s of µm. This precision can be exploited not only for dispensing but also for surface patterning. Surface patterning aids the orientation and differentiation of stem cells seeded onto the biomaterial[2]. In particular, the alignment of Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) within channels or grooves on the surface promotes differentiation towards a cardiomyocyte phenotype[1],[3]. There are many complex methods for the introduction of grooves into a polymer surface, which can be time consuming and lack the flexibility to create more complex patterns. We tested the robotic dispensing systems ability to create cell aligning surface channels following the multiple patterns programmed into the controlling CAD software. Furthermore, stem cells aligned to these grooves were examined for lineage commitment towards cardiomyocytes. Finally the dispensing system was assessed for the potential for delivering stem cells within a gelatin bioink directly to the surface grooves[4]. The precision delivery and capability of the cells to sense the grooves was observed. Method: Polystyrene films were patterned with grooves, etched using pre-programmed designs by a Janome 2300N pressure controlled robotic dispensing system. A sharpened stylus was fitted to the dispensing head, thus allowing surface etching. MSCs were seeded onto the surface and their ability to align along the grooves was judged. The lineage commitment of the stem cells was also assessed by FACS for cardiomyocyte markers. Subsequently, a 2% gelatin/DMEM bioink containing MSCs was loaded into the printing head and the bioink was delivered to the pre-etched grooves following the identical pattern used for etching. Results and Discussion: The sharpened stylus allowed etching of the polystyrene surface following preprogrammed coordinates. The MSCs seeded onto the surface orientated along the grooves with an elongated morphology. FACS demonstrated an increase in the cardiomyocyte gene marker GATA4 and a decrease in the stem cell marker CD29[5]. The robot dispenser system could deliver cells in based gelatin bioink directly to the channels by following identical programming coordinates used for etching. The bioink delivered cells could sense the grooves and become aligned.

Interprofessional Collaboration - Can Malaysian Pharmacists Expand their Non-dispensing Role in Osteoporosis Screening and Prevention?

This study describes the perspective of nurses, pharmacists, doctors and policy makers regarding the integration of the non-dispensing role of pharmacists in osteoporosis screening and prevention at the primary care level. Methods: Nurses (n¼10), pharmacists (n¼11), doctors (n¼10) and policy makers (n¼5) from a primary care clinic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were individually interviewed using a semi-structured topic guide. Purposive sampling was used. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis informed by constant comparison. Results: Pharmacists were principally perceived by all participants to be suppliers of medication, although there was some recognition of the pharmacist’s role in providing medication advice. Nonetheless, doctors, nurses and policy makers were eager for pharmacists to be more proactive via interprofessional collaboration in osteoporosis screening, prevention advice and disease management. Interviewed pharmacists referred to their current role as ‘robotic dispensers’ and unanimously agreed that the role of the pharmacist in osteoporosis management could be expanded. Barriers to overcome include inadequate staffing and infrastructure, and the lack of pharmacist dispensing rights (meaning that doctors can also dispense medications directly to their patients). These findings were further examined using the D’Armour’s structural model of collaboration which encompasses four main themes: shared goals and visions, internalisation, formalisation and governance. This model supports our data which highlights a lack of governance and formalisation, that fosters consensus, leadership, protocol and information exchange. Based on the D’Armour’s model, this primary care clinic is described as developing towards an interprofessional collaboration in managing osteoporosis but is still in its early stages. Conclusions: The pharmacy profession in Malaysia is gradually moving in the direction of its overseas counterparts where interprofessional collaboration in osteoporosis management is currently being practised. Efforts extending to awareness and acceptance towards the pharmacists role will be crucial for a successful change.

A new manual dispensing system for in meso membrane protein crystallization with using a stepping motor-based dispenser

A reliable and easy to use manual dispensing system has been developed for the in meso membrane protein crystallization method. The system consists of a stepping motor-based dispenser with a new microsyringe system for dispensing, which allows us to deliver any desired volume of highly viscous lipidic mesophase in the range from ~50 to at least ~200 nl. The average, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation of 20 repeated deliveries of 50 nl cubic phase were comparable to those of a current robotic dispensing. Moreover, the bottom faces of boluses delivered to the glass crystallization plate were reproducibly circular in shape, and their centers were within about 100 μm from the center of the crystallization well. The system was useful for crystallizing membrane and soluble proteins in meso.

Developing an innovative oral unit dose robot dispenser: Patient care performance and industrial perspectives

Summary Introduction New technology has been embraced everywhere for improving the performance patient care. In particular, this concerns professional machine that features advanced and digital technology. There are four main reasons for the development of pharmacy unit dose packaging machine speeds up: an accurate dosage of the doses prepared, provided and administered (fewer mistakes which is especially important as ambulant care grows, requiring patients to self-administer drugs), a closer and more interactive follow-up for high alert drugs (management of the controlled ward stock [floor-stock]), enhanced productivity (saving nurses time and resources while reducing the need for time-consuming pharmaceutical manual processes), natural idea that the automated packaging system can be electronically integrated and connected to the web network. However, it is of concern that powdery pill residue can by produced by robotic dispensing equipment in pharmacies. The primary objective of the study is to present the pharmaceutical aspects of the development of an innovative packaging system for enabling the automation of the liquid unit doses preparation and the critical steps of compounding in two hospitals. Materials and methods To ensure mastery of the latest technologies and surround itself with better skills, our team of hospital pharmacists called on different experts in the fields of automation, computer electronics and machining, with whom it has regular partnerships. The group was committed in developing upgrading solutions appropriately for secure and accurate preparation of liquid unit doses. The innovative machine should be able to communicate to the software for drug prescription and dispensing. Doses produced speeds up to 200 units an hour complying with quality standards in European Pharmacopoeia. Supported initially by a grant from the French National Agency for the Promotion of Research (ANVAR), and then joined by the French National Center of Hospital Expertise (CNEH), our hospital continued to promote the project. Our innovative packaging system integrates digital elements of positioning and allowing software to make quantified displacements most adapted to maximise the compounding process (see video). Results The development of the APG/RMD818 High-Speed liquid unit dose packaging machine since 2003 was a technological milestone in pharmaceutical automation engineering. Coherence and pharmacotechnical performance throughout the designing, development and production stages of the packaging machine and its process control software system have been reported. Our machine is thus well suited to replace a “siloed” approach of preparation of liquid dose in each nursing unit (50 to 18,000 μL). Our developments have resulted in ordering a second machine for another hospital pharmacy producing 180,000 doses/year. Conclusion There have been a few robust evaluations of the hospital and industrial co-development in pharmaceutical automation engineering. With regards to other systems, our machine is innovative because it embarks up to 20 different oral solutions for each packaging run. Nevertheless, an add-on software module allows the automatic machine to directly import data from medical orders of the Hospital Information Systems (HIS). Our liquid unit dose packaging machine is a simple-to-use automated system that is supplied with powerful and stable calibrations that does not need any daily calibration control. The machine operator will support only the replacement of consumables, collection of patients cups and quality controls checks based on good manufacturing practices and hygiene requirements. Unlike solid oral dose packaging machine, the liquid unit dose packaging machine does not produce powdery pill residue likely to cross-contaminate medications. The budgetary evaluation for the use of the automatic liquid unit dose machine have been previously published. Thus, the present study and two machines used for production in two hospitals may convince anyone who questioned the value of the concept.

OHP-006 Electronic prescribing and robotic dispensing: the need for a taxonomy to compare research papers

BackgroundThere are many papers on Electronic Prescribing and papers on Robotic Dispensing However, these terms are sometimes used generically, and the range of technical differences in the systems make it...