Decapping covid-19 test tube

This is a collaboration between Karolinska Institute and KTH Prototype Center

Covid-19 test tube decapper is free-licensed/ opensource under CC BY 4.0
 

Background

Opening many test tubes is both a time-consuming and laborious task. Unfortunately, the procedure of removing the cap (de-capping) from the tube must often be carried out manually as there are no or few automatic solutions capable of handling a large variety of test tubes.

Benjamin Heller Sahlgren have been involved in starting the COVID-19 diagnostics pipeline at the Karolinska Institute, where he and a fellow college has been responsible for starting and administrating the sample reception unit. Considering that the sample reception laboratory is the first step in the diagnostics pipeline and thus directly handles the incoming samples, the unit quickly identified the need for a automatic solution capable of removing the burden of the manual de-capping step.
Since the incoming test tubes differed both in size and diameter, an automatic de-capping solution capable of handling a large variety of tubes was required. However, such a machine was not available on the market and thus the potential of building a novel de-capping machine became the only feasible solution to the problem. KTH Prototype Center was contacted, and the situation and the requirements were explained to Lars Hässler who immediately started the development of a novel de-capping solution. The result was a machine flexible enough to remove almost all kinds of caps that differ not only in size and diameter but also design.
 

Machine designe

Lars Hässler larhas@kth.se
www.kthprototypecenter.com
 

Covid-19 testing
Benjamin Heller Sahlgren: benjamin.heller.sahlgren@ki.se
https://ki.se/en/mbb/ulf-eriksson-group

In the BOM list, you can find everything about materials and manufacturing for a test tube opening machine.
Photo / film Lars Hässler and Benjamin Heller Sahlgren