On the Design of an Overconstrained Vaccine Administration Robot Manipulator: Kinematic Synthesis and Optimization
摘要
Vaccination remains one of the most effective public-health interventions for preventing diseases worldwide, that requires scalable delivery solutions. While robotic implementation in vaccine administration remains unusual, cost-effectiveness must be an essential condition for widespread adoption; otherwise, such automation lacks practical application. Currently, healthcare robotics mainly rely on high degree-of-freedom complex manipulators, which often introduce excessive kinematic solutions with high cost. Consequently, low-cost, target-specific systems utilizing reduced mobility rather than general-purpose complexity are critically needed to execute automated vaccination widely available and accessible. In this study, a compact overconstrained robot manipulator is developed through effective structural and kinematic synthesis methodology, followed by dimensional optimization with defined design constraints to ensure manufacturable and effective design. The resultant kinematic structure ensures the entire vaccination cycle, allowing autonomous syringe waste management procedures. Aligning with safety goals, a custom end-effector was designed to achieve a “no-touch” disposal capability, where the unit was prototyped and its operational feasibility for the disposal was validated.