“ShenCai” Fully Automatic, Intelligent and Interactive Nucleic Acid Testing Robot

—— Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission – Special Funding in Fighting Against COVID-19

ShenCai Robot, a fully automatic, intelligent and interactive nucleic acid testing robot, is led and developed by the team of Prof. Max Q.-H. Meng(Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering) of Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Robotics Perception and Intelligence, Southern University of Science and Technology, supported by Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission. The Third People‘s Hospital of Shenzhen, National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Tsinghua University Shenzhen International Graduate School, YuanHua Intelligent Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen ShenCai Intelligent Medical Co., Ltd. also participate in the development process. It aims to replace the nucleic acid testing of medical staff and reduce their burden and the risk of infection.

The ShenCai Robot has the functions of face recognition and identity verification. It uses a specially designed miniature, high-efficiency sampling robot hand based on visual and force precise feedback control, which can realize the automation of the whole process including swab access, nucleic acid sampling, test tube operation, and sterilization. At present, the engineering prototype has been iterated for six generations, and more than 10,000 cases of throat swabs have been collected and verified at the Southern University of Science and Technology. The trial has been launched in Shenzhen Civic Center since July 11. The collected samples were evaluated in The Third People's Hospital of Shenzhen and the sample CT value showed that the testing effectiveness of the ShenCai Robot was significantly better than manual sampling. On September 15, the ShenCai Robot undertook nucleic acid testing for on-site personnel at the Shenzhen Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week event, and is still conducting crowd testing in Yuehai Street, Virtual University Park and other places in Shenzhen. In addition, the product prototype was exhibited at the 2022 World Robot Conference from August 18 to August 21. During this period, it was reported by many media and industry associations such as China Central Television and Xinhuanet. At the same time, the ShenCai Robot once ranked fourth in the national hot search list on Weibo and got the title of "Internet celebrity" robot.