Robot gives needle-free 'shots' with high-pressure jet of fluid into opening the width of a hair

A Canadian startup has made the process of getting a COVID-19 vaccine much easier with a robot that injects a shot directly into the muscle without the use of a needle. Developers of the Cobi robot, designed at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, say the droid has successfully performed the first autonomous robotic intramuscular injection. Cobi relies on a high-pressure jet of serum that passes through an opening in the skin the width of a human hair. Using LiDAR sensors, the same technology employed by autonomous vehicles to map the road, Cobi makes a model of the patient's body and AI-based software determines the optimal site for injection. 'We outfitted Cobi to use a needle-free injection technology and to demonstrate that patients could receive intramuscular injections, such as vaccines, without needles and no involvement from a healthcare professional,' said Tim Lasswell, co-founder and CEO of Cobionix in a statement.