Instrument automation robotics systems

The computer has become an accepted part of our daily lives. Computer applications in applied polymer science now are focussing on modelling, simulation, robotics, and expert systems rather than on the traditional subject of laboratory instrument automation and data reduction. The availability of inexpensive computing power and of package software for many applications has allowed the scientist to develop sophisticated applications in many areas without the need for extensive program development. 

The most recent extension of instrument automation has come with the availability of practical laboratory robotics systems. These systems can be as easy to implement as the personal computer data system and extend automation beyond control, data collection and... 

Beckman Robotic Biomek 1000 automated laboratory The Biomek 1000 integrates the work formerly done by four instruments sample preparation system, diluter/dispenser, plate washer and a spectrometer finish. In can handle assays such as radio-immunoassays (RIA), fluorescence immunoassays (FIA), enzyme immunoassays EIA and enzyme-linked immunoassays (ELISA). 

Robotic systems in a small analytical laboratory have the greatest application in the intermediate sample manipulation steps. The removal of excess solvent with the Zymark evaporator [492], for example, can be closely controlled, fully automated, and operate in parallel (up to six samples per instrument). This technique has considerable advantages over rotary evaporation, which is prone to loose volatile organic compounds (e.g., chlorobenzenes) under vacuum and rapid vaporization. Automated repetitive manipulations are well served by a robotic system [492]. 

Advanced ChemTech was the first company to release a combinatorial library synthesizer to the market. Currently the company offers several instruments for combinatorial chemistry. All fully automated models are based on a robotic system. 

Automation in LLE has been also introduced using an instrumentation that can automate all or part of the extraction and concentration process. A number of autosamplers and workstations for HPLC and GC can perform LLE. Robotic systems can be used to handle larger-volume LLE. 

Several feasibility and application studies have been performed using the developed electrochemical robotic system aiming on the exploration of the instrumental limits in automation of electrochemical synthesis and analysis. Parallelization of processes and miniaturization (Fig. 14.17) for higher throughput was a major objective. 

Products/technologies Porvair sells the Microlute Solid Phase Extraction in a Microplate system that provides 96 solid phase extractions in one compact unit (using any brand of sorbent). It can be automated using most standard liquid handling and robotic systems. Porvair s 384-well plate is compatible with most automated liquid handling instruments, readers for EIA, fluorescence, luminescence, and scintillation assays as well as robotic-handling devices. 

There are many types of automation equipment for SPE. They include semiautomated instruments, which are instruments where some intervention is required workstations, which carry out the entire SPE operation without intervention, including on-line analysis by GC and high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and customized SPE, which are robotic systems that are capable of many activities besides SPE and are custom designed for the user. 

Automatic and automated instruments can be differentiated as follows automatic instruments tend to perform specific operations at given points in a process or analysis to save time or effort, e.g. robotics, while automated instruments tend to control some part of a process without human intervention and do this by means of a feedback mechanism from sensors. For example, an automatic conductivity detector might continuously monitor the conductivity of a process stream, generating some alarm if the conductivity goes outside a preset limit. An automated detection system could transmit the measured conductivity values to a control unit that, by utilising a feedback mechanism, adjusts relevant process parameters, e.g. temperature or cycle time, to maintain the conductivity of the stream within the preset limits. 

The AMS 422 Figure 12) (54-56) is an automated Fmoc-based batch instrument for simultaneous construction of 48 different peptides at scales of 5-50 pmol. Solvents and reagents arc delivered by nitrogen pressure and removed by an aspiration system comptised of two stainless steel vessels separated by a solenoid valve and an all-Teflon membrane vacuum pump. The iastrument is based on an X-Y-Z robotics system for liquid handling and contains a multiple column reaction module. A valve manifold controls each... 

---