Japan bets on robots to increase Covid-19 testing with Olympics near

Tamura visits the Kawasaki Heavy Industries' Tokyo Robot Centre, a facility that researches polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test automation, amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, in Tokyo, Japan. — Reuters

TOKYO: Japan’s health minister watched a demonstration on Jan 19 of a prototype automated Covid-19 testing machine that uses a robotic arm to take a sample from a person’s nose and can deliver the results in about 80 minutes.

The robot system, built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries Inc, fits in a standard shipping container that can be transported by truck and set up at stadiums, theme parks and other mass gatherings, the company said.