Engineers built an AI-powered robot to take your blood

Having your blood drawn can be the stuff of nightmares -- but maybe a robot could help. Engineers at Rutgers University announced Wednesday that they've built a tabletop machine that combines aspects of robotics, AI, and ultrasound imaging to reliably draw blood or insert a catheter to deliver drugs and medicine. Their research, published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, concludes that their blood'bot may even outperform human medical staff. Despite being a common procedure, about 20 percent of blood drawings can prove difficult if patients have veins that are small, rolling, collapsed, or otherwise hard to access, leading to increased poking and unnecessary suffering. That's where the robot comes in.