This robot will draw your blood now
Autonomous blood-drawing devices could help address phlebotomist shortages.
You sit down and put your arm in the cradle. You press a button. The machine takes it from there.
A near-infrared light sweeps your inner elbow, hunting for a vein. A puff of alcohol hits your skin. An ultrasound probe glides across the arm, mapping how deep the vessel runs and which way it bends. Doppler captures the direction of blood flow to rule out the artery.
The cuff tightens around your upper arm. The needle comes down and pierces the skin. Your blood flows into the collection tubes, each one tipped end-over-end nine times—no more, no less. The needle withdraws. You get a bandage. No human ever touched you.
This is what it’s like to have blood taken by Aletta, the first autonomous blood-draw device authorized for use in the United States.
Continue reading at IEEE Spectrum.
