Panasonic Corp. said Tuesday it has developed a medical robot that dispenses drugs to patients, the electronics giant's first step into robotics.
Panasonic will sell the robot to domestic hospitals starting in March before eventually marketing it in the United States and Europe. Spokesman Akira Kadota said the robot will cost several tens of millions of yen.
"This robot is the first in our robotics project. It sorts out injection drugs to patients, saving time for pharmacists," Kadota said.
The robot does not have a humanoid appearance, he said. "It looks like a cabinet with lots of small drawers."
Pharmacists put drugs into the robot, which stores medical data for patients. The robot sorts out the drugs for each patient and places them in respective drawers bearing the names of patients.
Osaka-based Panasonic hopes annual revenue from the robot and other medical robotics will reach ¥30 billion by the 2015 business year.
Japan is a world leader in robotics, and the government is pushing to develop the industry as a road to growth.
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