Method for powdered drug reconstitution

1. A method for reconstitution of a pulverized drug, comprising the steps of:

providing a robot ( 2 ) having a movable element for carrying a container ( 3 ) elongated along one axis (H) and holding a pulverized drug ( 4 ) and diluents ( 5 ); said robot ( 2 ) being designed to agitate the container for enabling a reconstitution process wherein the pulverized drug is fully dissolved in the diluents;

providing a user interface ( 22 ) for introducing data indicative of the drug to be subjected to reconstitution process;

accessing an internal data base (DB) based on said introduced data for outputting, for a selected drug, a list of primitive movements P1, P2, . . . Pi, . . . Pn to be used in said reconstitution process; each primitive movements including the computerized instruction for the robot in order to move the container according to a predetermined trajectory that, in three dimensional space, defines a predefined simple movement that mimics a movement made under manual reconstitution;

operating the robot ( 2 ) for executing sequentially the primitive movements that have been outputted and moving the container ( 3 ) according to the instructions of the primitive movements;

measuring, during the movement of the container under robot action, physical positions in the space and dynamic parameters of the container ( 3 ) creating a list of registered data;

comparing the measured positions in the space and the dynamic parameter with the corresponding ones of the primitive movements for selecting a list of eligible primitive movements if a sufficient approximation level is reached;

combining selected eligible primitive movements together to generate instruction for the robot allowing a complex movement encompassing said simple movements;

using said robot ( 2 ) for shaking said container that is moved in the space according to said complex movement; and

wherein the list of movements comprises two or more of the following movements:

Primitive movement P1 (NONE) in which the elongated container ( 3 ) containing the drug is shaken by the robot ( 2 ) along a trajectory comprising first direction D 1 parallel to its main axis H and a second direction D 2 perpendicular to the first direction D 1 without applying any further revolution or rotary movement to the container ( 3 ) during the above translation;

Primitive movement P2 (SWEEPCONE) in which the axis H of the container moves along a trajectory that rest on a surface of a cone; and wherein an angular speed of the rotating container ( 3 ) chosen from the group consisting of constant, sinusoidal and saw tooth profile; the cone is swept entirely or limited to an arc;

Primitive movement P3 (SWEEPCYLINDER) in which the axis H of the container moves along a trajectory that rests on the surface of a cylinder, wherein an angular speed of the rotating container chosen from the consisting of constant, sinusoidal and a saw tooth profile; and wherein the cone is swept entirely or limited to an arc;

Primitive movement P4 (CUSTOM) in which the axis H of the container moves along a trajectory that rests on a parametric custom surface defined in the three dimensional (3D) space;

Primitive movement P5 (PENDULUMAXIS) in which the axis H is subject to a pendular rotating movement on a variable plane; wherein the container ( 3 ) may be subject to an angular speed that chosen from the group consisting of constant, sinusoidal and a saw tooth profile; and wherein rotation around the rotation axis of the robot can be limited to an arc.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said data base (DB) provides a list of constraints for each primitive movement.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of: defining a plurality of kinematic parameters that are related to any selected primitive movements before operating the robot ( 2 ) for sequentially executing the primitive movements;

modifying said kinematic parameters if the approximation level is not reached; and

operating the robot for executing the primitive movements with updated kinematic parameters.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the constraints comprise at least one of the following:

constraints indicative of limit positions of portions of the robot ( 2 ) or container during the reconstitution phase;

maximum speed values of portions of the robot ( 2 ) or container ( 3 ) during the reconstitution phase;

maximum inclination angles of portions of the robot ( 2 ) or container ( 3 ) during the reconstitution phase;

maximum acceleration values of portions of the robot ( 2 ) or container ( 3 ) during the reconstitution phase.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the primitive movements are created in a setting phase wherein:

inertial measuring means (IM) are coupled with the container ( 3 ) to measure the movements of the container ( 3 ) while an operator manually holds and shakes the container to effect a reconstitution phase according to a predetermined protocol;

said inertial measuring means measures positions and dynamic parameters that describe a three dimensional drug-reconstitution movement for the reconstitution of the drug;

said three dimensional drug-reconstitution movement is analyzed to extract primitive movements that approximate the single movements that the operator has manually operated.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of combining eligible primitive movements involves at least one of the following actions:

a) setting a number of repetitions of each primitive movements;

b) setting a contemporaneous execution of two or more primitive movements at the same time;

c) setting a pause between two adjacent primitive movements;

d) setting a number of repetitions of the whole list of primitive movements.