Robotics of the future in the pharmaceutical industry

The article on the future of robotics in the pharmaceutical industry by Dr. Carl-Helmut Coulon, group head of “Future Manufacturing Concepts” at INVITE, differentiates applications of "modern robotics" from classical automation in order to illustrate that technical advances in recent years have made a new type of automation possible.

Robotics of the future in the pharmaceutical industry INVITE GmbH

It discusses the drivers and applications within the pharmaceutical industry which will benefit from this modern robotics and gives an indication of the industry-specific requirements. Section 5 of the article outlines how machine learning will simplify and speed-up developments in future. Finally, the article envisions major opportunities for the pharmaceutical and robotics industries justified by the availability of the described new type of applications in combination with the outlined demands.

Requirements regarding quality, ergonomics and efficiency reveal the necessity to a much higher degree of automation for the production of pharmaceuticals. In addition, for safety reasons the industry is asked to technically separate humans and high potent substances wherever possible. However, looking at production, many activities are currently still carried out by humans, even though there are strong reasons to avoid it. The main message of this article is the hypothesis that modern robotics will provide the pharmaceutical industry with cost effective and easy-to-use flexible applications as soon as the pharmaceutical industry specifies these applications and their requirements. Phrased the other way round: There will be a relevant market for robots in the pharmaceutical industry in future.

Please find the full article here.