UBC researchers using new portable drug testing robot at Shambhala music festival

published on July 18, 2023 by Abigail Turner in CTV News Vancouver

A group of researchers from the University of British Columbia have created a new, portable drug testing machine.

Their new prototype will be rolled out at the Shambhala Music Festival in the Kootenays this weekend.

Current drug testing tools are not portable, according to associate professor Jason Hein.

That’s why he and his team worked to make a smaller machine with the same efficiency as the large, advanced machines used by pharmacists – delivering results in just 15 minutes.

“We know how to do this for pharma, why don’t we take the tools and skills that we have to build a robot that can do that expert testing?” Hein said. “Somebody will put something in to it, the robot does its thing, prepares the sample, runs the sample, extracts the data and says, ‘Here’s what’s in it.’”…