Reverse Robotics: Interactive Machines for Controlling People in a Complex Laboratory Environment

Abstract

For carbon-11 radiopharmaceuticals the need to handle large amounts of radioactivity quickly and without mistakes has led to the development of a variety of shielded microchemical machines. With experience there has been a gradual increase in speed and reliability along with a decrease in size. But achieving efficiency during the radiosynthesis per se often demands many steps of careful preparation for each synthetic cycle. The synthesis of [¹¹C]raclopride requires 35–35 minutes after the end of target irradiation until the injectable radiopharmaceutical reaches the clinic. However, the overall support for the synthesis including installation and purge of the machine, preparation and replacement of disposable items and management of paperwork can easily take more than two hours.