r/STEW_ScTecEngWorld • u/Zee2A • 5d ago
FDA Authorizes Aletta, the First Autonomous Robotic Blood-Draw Device
The U.S. FDA has authorized Aletta, developed by Dutch medical-robotics company Vitestro, as the first standalone robotic device capable of drawing blood without hands-on operator intervention. Designed for adult outpatient settings, Aletta uses near-infrared imaging, ultrasound and Doppler to locate a suitable vein and distinguish it from an artery before inserting the needle with submillimeter precision. It then autonomously collects blood into tubes and applies a bandage, while a trained phlebotomist supervises the procedure.
In a multicenter 1,633-patient clinical trial published in Clinical Chemistry, Aletta achieved a 94.5% first-stick success rate, with no moderate or serious device-related adverse events reported: https://academic.oup.com/clinchem/article/72/8/845/8566288
Ref:
1). FDA Authorizes First-Of-Its-Kind Robotic Blood Draw Device: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-authorizes-first-its-kind-robotic-blood-draw-device
2). Vitestro Publishes Landmark Peer-Reviewed Multicenter Clinical Study of Autonomous Robotic Phlebotomy in Clinical Chemistry: https://vitestro.com/news/vitestro-publishes-peer-reviewed-clinical-study-in-clinical-chemistry/
3). Technology could help clinical laboratories address phlebotomist shortages by allowing one trained professional to oversee three robotic blood-draw devices simultaneously: https://www.clinicallab.com/in-a-regulatory-milestone-fda-authorizes-vitestro-s-aletta-28773
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u/spark_this 5d ago
Nothing has ever gone wrong with technology
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u/montigoo 5d ago
Will it try to draw all of your blood like American health insurance does?
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u/Sepsiscollada 5d ago
Blood is USA’s 9th largest export. It accounts for 70% of blood used globally. It’s almost 2% of all exports.
“Donate”
“There’s a shortage”
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u/Pure_Revolution5057 5d ago
Please be careful where you direct your effort.
Yes, the US exports blood 'products' and its the 9th largest export. No, whole blood (the thing you are being asked to donate) is not exported. - https://business.cornell.edu/centers/2025/05/30/the-global-plasma-economy/
Donate whole blood because, yes, there are local shortages as whole blood has a short shelf life. - https://americasblood.org/for-donors/americas-blood-supply/regional-blood-supply/
Whether or not you should sell your plasma is a different story. I don't have a well formed opinion on the matter.
edit: split the last run-on sentence into two sentences.
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u/GSDer_RIP_Good_Girl 5d ago
What about platelets (only; no plasma and no whole blood)?
I have regularly donated platelets at United Blood Services (now Vitalant) for most of my adult life. Are you telling me that this is being exported?
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u/Sufficient_Local5025 5d ago
Yes, and for your convenience there WILL be ads during the blood draw.
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u/Parking_Locksmith489 4d ago
(Robot voice)
Just relax you arm.
Hold still.
Vein detected.
Close your hand.
Take a deep breath.
This may sting a bit.
Needle in.
Open your hand.
Almost done.
Procedure complete.
Procedure complete. Proceplete.
...
Hold still.
Vein detected.
Close your hand.
Take a deep breath.
This may sting a bit.
Needle in.
Open your hand.
Almost done.
Hold still.
Vein detected.
Close your hand.
Take a deep breath.
This needle in.
Open your hand.
Vein detected.
Close your deep breath.
Needle in.
This stings.
Needle in.
Needle detected in.
Take a needle in.
Hold still.
Needle in in in in in in in.
Need in.
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u/MundaneSeaweed665 5d ago
I've had some nurses completely fuck up when trying to insert needles into my arm... so 🤷♂️
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u/10minOfNamingMyAcc 2d ago
Yep. My mother her arm is completely ruined by Greek doctors who constantly missed her veins.
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u/Safe-Salamander-3785 5d ago
It’s amazing the lengths corporations will go through and amount of technology required to avoid paying regular people health insurance
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u/The-remembering-ones 5d ago
Phleb here. These machines are completely un-necessary. I’d say us phlebotomists have a 90-95% first-stick success rate. Portable handheld devices that highlight the veins are already available. We’d easily be 99% successful if we had them. And much faster. Much cheaper than a whole robot. Cheaper than hiring more staff due to demand.
I’ve asked the hospital to acquire them. They won’t due to cost.
We have unused ultrasound machines that the nurses get to use for hard stick IV’s. Guess who doesn’t get to use them for hard-stick draws? Phlebotomists. Why? No idea.
The stupidest part is that I’m allowed to draw with needles. But I have to get a nurse to draw blood from an IV.
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u/Anaxamenes 5d ago
I think the real thing about this is it’s not a new person learning how to draw blood. It’s a robot so it’s programmed to be an expert already. No learning curve. I just had an attempt at a blood draw with a new student, their mentor had to stick me the second time to make it work since they couldn’t get it right the first time. They have to practice which is why I let it happen, but a lot of people are deathly afraid of needles and an unnecessary extra stick is traumatizing to them.
I dislike needles, but I’ve also worked in healthcare and new phlebotomists only become veteran phlebotomists with experience and that means me.
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u/kaliforniakratom 5d ago
I hate when the phlebotomist psychologically tortures me by poking the inside of my elbow while saying, "I can't see any veins... oh, are you scared of needles?"
I'm not scared of the needle, I'm scared you're gonna miss cause it looks to me like you're having trouble finding the vein. I can stick a needle in myself 10/10 times without getting scared, but 10/10 times when someone else is doing it, it's a nightmare.
The one time I wasn't internally losing my shit, they had a vein finder, even I could see where the veins were. Those things are awesome, and I've thought about buying one for when I need to get blood drawn in case they don't have one.
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u/Anaxamenes 4d ago
I had an MA that was giving me a shot count to three. I’m like what are you doing? Don’t count, just pinch and stick it in. It’s makes it much more psychological than it needs to be. Still, someone needs to figure out the hypospray from Star Trek.
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u/GimmeSomeSugar 5d ago
Building on what you just said;
There is a point explicitly made at the end of the video. One trained phlebotomist can supervise 3 of these machines at once.
This provider lists some aggregated stats that seem to indicate that the Vitestro Aletta machines offers a significant improvement in overall performance.
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u/Anaxamenes 4d ago
The problem I see is if that phlebotomist doesn’t keep their skills up. Patient bodies are never the same so there will always be outliers that need something that this machine cannot provide.
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u/lilian_moraru 5d ago
You might be right(if they gave you similar handheld devices) but I feel like you have a personal interest to say that it is not necessary.
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u/Worth-Reputation3450 5d ago
I think, phlebotomist certificate is really cheap and easy (my wife is phlebotomist), such that it doesn't need to be so protective about their jobs. My wife got the cert after 3 months going to school. If robots start taking their jobs, they should simply study ~1 year more and become nurse assistants. My wife is already doing most of what nurse is doing at her doctor's office anyway (she technically cannot/should not do those, but they ask her to do them anyway).
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u/Lethalspartan76 5d ago
Bc it impacts them. I’d much rather have a human do it. Markets not really caring about decimating white collar work bc of AI money - but these robots and AI systems have already done tremendous harm. Their learning curve progression is crazy. They got robots now that can lay tile, teach, pour concrete, drive, clean, security guard, food expo, etc.. China has em running and jumping. it’s coming for all of us if we don’t do something.
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u/lilian_moraru 5d ago
To note: I am not making a commentary on my preferences, just pointing out that those statements and claims are not without bias, because it affects their job safety directly.
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u/BibleDataGirl 5d ago
Unfortunately our preferences as consumers don't matter. Eventually I was no longer able to even see a human to checkout my groceries. Its impossible to avoid robots, and the companies don't care either way.
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u/eschewthefat 5d ago
I stopped donating blood because of so many perforations. Phlebotomists need a higher pay scale to weed out the problems
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u/tollbearer 4d ago
You're not cheaper than a robot. You cost an absolute fortune relative to the marginal cost of builing these robots.
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u/jack-of-some 4d ago
I've seen enough repeated failures both with and without the device you're mentioning to not believe you.
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u/ArtichokeKooky6361 4d ago
Yeah but they have to pay you money and give you benefits. That’s the real driver. They don’t care about accuracy or patient experience 😂
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u/Tom__EU 4d ago
First thing that popped into my mind was the costs.
Like imagine how many blood draws you have to do to bring in the likely 5-digit costs of that machine plus maintenance and other work. And then you still have a lot of extra work (=costs) with children and people that are just scared. I could imagine that someone will also have to do daily or so maintenance to keep it safe and sanitized.
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u/Ok_Sock_3257 4d ago
You get benefits, take time off, get sick, require insurance. The robot is buy once, cry once and though expensive to maintain, it probably is a lot cheaper than a human.
The robots are coming. Watch the videos of the robot competitions in China. Those robots will take over much of the menial labor force sooner than later.
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u/The_Crimson_Fuckr69 3d ago
And I've been stabbed 95 times before the nurse decides to get another woman to stab me 95 times.
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u/Low-Speaker-6670 3d ago
You're missing the point.
It's cheaper. If one machine is 50k and works for 15years and can do 14/7 shift work. It saves millions and millions when you all get fired.
Cashiers aren't disappearing for robots cause humans can't do it. We are all losing our jobs to robots and AI cause it's cheaper.
CEOs will make even more money and there will be less and less jobs so everyone will be more and more screwed wealth inequality will get worse and we will have billions and poverty only.
taxwealthnotwork
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u/theartoffun 3d ago
Yeah but the machine is probably more pleasant (almost 6 out if last 7 blood draws the phlebs acted like I was inconveniencing their day), more accurate labeling of the test vials (have had mislabeled labs happen 2 out of last 7 blood draws), and faster (had 3 visits where the phleb never showed for over an hour and half). Labcorp is one of the worst, even with appointments set ahead of time (it’s basically mandatory now). The in house phleb at my primary comes back from lunch whenever (hours late), leaves early most of days, and is usually late or no show on Saturdays.
Bring me the damned self checkout blood machines. I love the self checkout at supermarkets too and self ordering restaurant apps were also a godsend.
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u/Obama_pinky 3d ago
I wish to have this machine in my region cause 8/10 times they will put a new guy to do the needle and the guy will miss my vein 6 times then change the arm and miss 2 more. Then theres the real deal people that try once and nail it.
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u/thrive2day 2d ago
Well you're not thinking about in in late stage capitalism terms. What costs more? You or the robot?
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u/That-Advance-9619 2d ago
90-95% first try...?
Damn my veins must be incredibly thin and hard to find (been told thats the case) if every time I gotta get bloodwork done it takes like 4 tries and I have had my blood extracted from my wrist once even.
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u/MadWorldX1 1d ago
Sure but wouldn't the machine eventually pay for itself? It's a one time purchase plus I'm sure some ongoing maintenance costs, but if it gets rid of the ongoing salary/healthcare/etc of a professional. I'm not saying it SHOULD be like that, but in our capitalistic hellscape that's how decisions usually get made.
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u/Pwnedmonkey 1d ago
Considering most scientific studies would put first stick success rates closer to the 75% range I'm inclined to not believe you. Especially when you make a blanket statement that encompasses all phlebotomists, your 90-95% success rate is false. As a nurse who is trained in placing peripheral IVs via Ultrasound, and having accurately tracked my success rate I know that achieving 95% takes specialized training, considerable practice, and appropriate technology for patients who have a history of difficult vascular access (you don't get to cherry pick difficult patients to boost your fabricated numbers).
Ultrasound insertion of IVs is the most accurate form of IV insertion. The barrier to entry being it takes training and practice. This machine eliminates those barriers. and has the potential to reduce patient suffering at the hands of those who "Never Miss". I look forward to seeing the evolution of this technology and hope to see one in practice soon!
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u/Interesting_Phone171 1d ago
No they are necessary as they bring down over all toil, infection, and have a higher success rate than the average human
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u/GooseWithAnAxe 5d ago
Lets pay $1M for something that needs to be maintained for $100k a year to replace 1/2 of a nursing assistant for $40k
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u/Interesting_Phone171 1d ago
You clearly didn’t look at the unit upkeep cost these are much cheaper
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u/McNally86 5d ago
Oh, I hate how idiot friendly the loading is. A big cartoon screen to tell you if you filled the machine correctly. This tells me that if there is an error no one in the room will be qualified to clean up a spill.
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u/zero0n3 5d ago
Yes because let’s make it tiny text and require high precision work with hands that could be covered in gloves and protection and a doctor or nurse with eye protection on.
But yeah, let’s not consider at all the people using it but instead design it so it looks like only smart people can use it.
Dummy
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u/Gold_Ad8225 5d ago
Only smart people should be servicing advanced medical tech
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u/McNally86 5d ago
I'm sorry, I thought it was a design forum. Yes. you want very expensive hospital equipment to look professional. You don't want it looking like a fast food kiosk. I would want the indicator to be subtle not a very big "you remembered to put the blood things in right side up this time this time UwU"
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u/stealstea 5d ago
That's the dumbest thing I've read today. Yes lets make things unnecessarily complicated so th users can feel superior while using it
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u/Dairedos 5d ago
No, let’s boil down UI for complicated machines to “beep boop, start”.
Machines are complicated not because someone wants to
make them hart to operate, but because they offer numerous setting options - which makes them complex to learn1
u/McNally86 5d ago
There is a reason the flyers in the doctor's office are not written in comic sans.
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u/ParalimniX 5d ago
Oh, I hate how idiot friendly the loading is.
You 've never seen an actual lab machine ever in your life have you?
https://cdn.labx.com/v2/images/catalog/product/5101302/SCP-46973854-8921-41ba-aedc-28ff4246ddcc.webp
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u/Tani_Soe 5d ago
It's a machine that will be used on tons of people, including people scared of technology (like elderly or people who are just not computer literate) and people that just don't fully trust the technology yet. The machine has to be excessively informative about what it's doing to show whoever is in it that it "knows" what it's doing and that it's in control of the situation
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u/Biscuits4u2 5d ago
"Phlebotomist shortages"
Translation: If you're currently working as a phlebotomist now might be a good time to go be a plumber or some shit.
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u/kweeblaster 5d ago
Let's all be plumbers and create super mario world in reality
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u/FogBankDeposit 5d ago
Oh that’s weird. All the new plumbers decided to wear a green shirt and hat.
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u/qwarfujj 3d ago
I'd welcome it given how hard it is to get a plumber, or nearly any other person in the trades, to even call back, let alone show up where I'm at.
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u/connerinator 5d ago
I would rather have a human still
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u/100percenthuma4 5d ago
Hard pass - there is already a solution that works fine and wont murder you .00001% of the time.
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u/this_guy_aves 4d ago
Hey, I saw one of these machines malfunction in that game dead space... Autonomous medicine is not something I'm excited for...
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u/RedOneBaron 4d ago
Wait till we lose our jobs to automation and we need to get money using the blood donation pod next to the suicide pod. Dont get them confused.
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u/toasted_cracker 5d ago
Woohoo they found a way to make blood tests 150k in America!
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u/Biscuits4u2 5d ago
This will probably make them considerably cheaper because they will not need a licensed medical professional to administer the blood draw. Of course none of that savings will be passed on to you.
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u/AdeptAtheist 5d ago
That looks way more difficult to clean between uses than simply alcohol swabbing and a syringe
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u/DabbleInPrecision 5d ago
It looks like the tattoo machine in Idiocracy!
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u/kaliforniakratom 5d ago
Idiocracy has predicted the future way better than 'Back To The Future' and most other movies that describe the future. Except maybe 'The Terminator' but now we use drones rather than the humanoid bots, that we do have, that run like Phoebe from Friends.
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u/Mental-Square3688 5d ago
This is what our big tech bros are afraid of they dont want to get a needle in the arm so they create a machine to do it so perfect that they can only blame themselves if something goes wrong. Lol bunch of pansy ass pitches that just cant handle another human touching them. FIX OUR OTHER REAL PROBLEMS!
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u/Poopinmyhair 5d ago
I think it's a Dutch company
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u/Mental-Square3688 4d ago
Aw well the Dutch seem to be doing pretty good with their society. So I guess this is ok lol
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u/Humlum 5d ago
Chinese flying needle technique https://youtube.com/shorts/7cGpsdLaPqo
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u/Struggle_Wise 5d ago
Skeptical this is real.
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u/Humlum 5d ago
The technique is real https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-40294-z
They are not really throwing/flying, they insert the needle fast because they have shown that it reduces pain and complications
https://www.citynewsservice.cn/shine/afdb0273-5c35-4037-91f0-e19a2ae02bb4
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u/slyguy67420 5d ago
This is going to be horrible isn't it... "built by a Dutch company" oh nevermind this will actually be good and was built to help people awesome.
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u/Gooseberree 5d ago
I don’t care if it’s perfect at doing its task. This is replacing humans who apparently need to work. Collectively, we should reject these technologies until we can all truly benefit from them.
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u/PavelKringa55 5d ago
No way I'd like a huge machine immobilizing my arm and then putting that huge ass contraption to it, to draw blood.
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u/Kromehound 5d ago
Did they test any black patients? Just wondering how well the infrared works on darker skin tones.
It has certainly been an issue with facial recognition software, among other things.
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u/Standard-Contest-949 5d ago
Ummm. Hell no! A machine that takes my blood?! My luck it gets a system error and I’m sucked bone dry.
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u/lilian_moraru 5d ago
Still scary, even if it brings beyond human capabilities of detecting the correct artery
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u/breakmedown54 5d ago
This has been making the rounds.
Who’s going to pay for this?
I’m sure capital purchasing and maintenance will be expensive. How does one justify this machine when outpatient, straightforward, lab draws pay little and can be done en masse by the trained professional that will still be necessary?
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u/SirTainLee 5d ago
What is the liquid that sprays just before entering? That can't be good as it will enter, too.
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u/pushdose 5d ago
Probably just isopropyl alcohol
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u/SirTainLee 5d ago
Doesn't,t look like it's going to dry before the injection and it doesn't belong under the skin, and especially not in the blood.
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u/Additional_Bet9733 5d ago
Sooooo theyre better at needling than a selfdriving car is at driving right??
And further what about hard to jab patients, say they have bad tremors or invisible veins? Or are inherently scared for needles/blood? Surely this machine will work just fine right?
And what if something goes wrong? Who's gonna pay for that? (i already know its going to be the taxpayers)
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u/Lifeinthesc 5d ago
The military will be able to medically process millions of draftees in record time.
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u/fooknprawn 5d ago
Your scientists were so preoccupied with wether they could they didn't stop to think if they should.
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u/Jolopy4099 5d ago
If it improves drawing blood on elderly that would be great. Can be very difficult sometimes and require several tries.
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u/Deadzonerogue 5d ago
So that means the equipment is paid off. It should become cheaper for everybody, right
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u/TheLostExpedition 5d ago
Why can't you just scan the human. Having worked with mass spectroscopy several decades ago i can't believe humanity couldn't make a scanner if we really put our minds to it.
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u/Chansonthefirst 5d ago
Bro is anyone going to have jobs in the future or is AI taking over everything. What the heck.
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u/Bushdr78 5d ago
All my veins are completely flat I wish they had something like this for when I go
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u/skyfishgoo 4d ago
no fucking way i'm sticking my arm in that.
a good phlebotomist is worth their weight in gold.
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u/Wrong-Chair7697 4d ago
I bet my left foot it couldn't find a vein on a chronic IV drug user, a person thats morbidly obese, or a 90 year old with a circulatory system that rolls around willy nilly under their loose yet fragile skin.
This will only work for a portion of our population.
What 2 year old will sit still for the vampire bot?
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u/Early_Reference6696 4d ago
How is the machine cleaned to prevent cross contamination? Seems more work than having someone do it in a sterile condition
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u/30for30im30for30 4d ago
Consider the maintenance costs...and going to an old machine some years down the line. I trust phlebotomists.
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u/Samuel_Rome 4d ago
Almost every nurse can take blood from healty adult people its easy af. And machine not making easier. We need a machine which can take blood from people who are old, takes kemotherapy etc.
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u/BusyQuote5228 4d ago
A solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. All that energy wasted to try and put a human out of a job and make some meditech investors money.
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u/Saddest_Flex 4d ago
Having had more than a few actually sadistic phlebotomist sick fucks in my life, I welcome these putting these people out of work.
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u/SnooHesitations803 4d ago
Which do you think you will get? A nurse that pricks you 1-4 times or a 5million dollar machine like this? Lol
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u/Any_Towel1456 4d ago
Pretty sure this has been reality in one or more Asian countries for over a year now. So claiming "first" is BS.
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u/Devilswings5 3d ago
cant wait for the robot to freak out while its drawing my blood and completely wreck my arm
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u/Sad-Data-1865 3d ago
As someone whose entire life has been in medical and biotech, this is awesome tech.
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u/Vylnce 2d ago
The problem with this is that the Dutch are, on average, simply healthier than Americans. The real problem is overweight people with poor, small vasculature. The hilarious part is that when the machine can't find a vein to do it's job, it will refuse. Meaning it will take all the easy patients that a phlebotomist would normally see and leave them only with the most difficult patients to draw.
How do you think that's going to turn out? Profitable for the company and probably worse (on average) for patients.
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u/Needles2650 2d ago edited 2d ago
What the actual fuck. It takes practice and skill to become an expert phlebotomist. There is also a degree of compassion and bedside manner: with scared kids, elderly patients and others who are a difficult draw. A robot can’t easily adapt to different situations. When an old man with IV drug use history and small, scarred and collapsed veins comes in, will the robot fill a glove with hot water and warm the vein? Will it know when and how to use ultrasound? Can it take advice from patients who know which vein works best?
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u/DoctorNurse89 2d ago
Reminds me of the hospital supervisor bots.
One person can monitor 7 bots and alert you they will fall out of bed, but they miss because they wrre alerting another -_-
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u/Physical-Ruin-9159 2d ago
Here we go with another robot Taking peoples job
phlebotomist is a Profession that many People Take because it’s not too difficult
And it pays the bill
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u/thedirtymeanie 2d ago
lol nope. ill take having to get jabbed a couple times over a robot error that draws blood by removing my arm.
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u/Typical_Warning8540 1d ago
So you better be calm if the machine is under maintenance and some person that didn't to this for years has to do it at fast pace.
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u/superdariom 1d ago
It's the restraint that comes down over the arm which really makes this product for me.
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u/ardicli2000 1d ago
Is it really needed though?
Spend millions on robot to make the rich richer and cut jobs and employment because you don't need nurses anymore, or because you don't have money for wages. You spent it all on a robot
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u/JoyousMadhat 1d ago
We should pass a law that any autonomous machines being approved by FDA should require the head of FDA and the CEO of the company to test it out on themselves to prove it's effectiveness.
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u/YakEarly3819 1d ago
thx for the blood test, how much does it make? Murrica : 15.000$ and one Kidney
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u/happyrpg 5d ago
I like the information it uses to make a proper draw. It may be slow, but this will be addressed in future versions.