The Shambhala Music Festival begins this weekend, and for those who are planning on consuming drugs at the event, there will be a robot that could make the experience safer.
UBC researchers are digging into the future of drug testing at festivals, and in a news release, UBC says that a prototype testing robot will be in Salmo, BC, this weekend.
This development is exciting because, in most cases, portable testing requires a technician, and UBC says it can’t detect more than five compounds in a sample at a time.
However, the prototype robot testing drugs at Shambhala is portable and can quantify substances in samples, including fentanyl, in around 15 minutes.
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Shambhala will take place between July 20 and 24.
When it comes to why this drug-testing prototype is important, UBC makes mention of substances like carfentanil, which are highly potent and can be lethal in small amounts.
“So it’s important to know how much of it is present in a drug.”
Aside from the Shambhala prototype, the team behind this project has set up a drop box at UBC where people can place samples of any substances they want to be tested at no cost.
“And they’ll continue their work on the robot with the aim of one day bringing it to market.”
A video of how it works can be seen here: