Robot target

Kim, C., Langari, R. (2011). A mobile robot target tracking via brain limbic system based control. International Journal of Robotics and Automation, 26. 

EIAs can be used per se or with a spectrophotometer. Traditionally, EIAs have been developed in 96-weU microtiter plates which provide the immobilization support for the assay, the reaction vessel, and, when linked to a spectrophotometer-based reader, a rapid means to detect and quantify the color resulting from interaction of a substrate with the antibody—antigen—enzyme complex. Automated immunoassay analyzers targeted primarily for use in the clinical laboratory have taken automation one step further, utilizing robotics to carry out all reagent additions, washings, and final quantification including report preparation. 

Fig. 3.14 Left. NASA Mars-Exploration-Rover (artist view courtesy NASA, JPL, Cornell). On the front side of the Rover the robotic arm carrying the Mossbauer spectrometer and other instruments can be seen in stowed position. Right, robotic arm before placement on soil target at Victoria crater rim, Meridian Planum, Mars. The Mossbauer instrument MIMOS II with its circular contact plate can be seen, pointing towards the rover camera. See also Sect. 8.3...

Because of the complexity of sample preparation, backscatter measurement geometry (see Fig. 3.19) is the choice for an in situ planetary Mossbauer instrument [36, 47 9]. No sample preparation is required, because the instmment is simply presented to the sample for analysis. On MER, the MIMOS II SH is mounted on a robotic arm that places it in physical contact with the analysis target (e.g., rock or soil) [36, 37]. 

The MIMOS II Mossbauer spectrometer sensor head (see Sect. 3.3) is located at the end of the /nstrument Deployment Device IDD (see Fig. 8.27) On Mars-Express Beagle-2, an European Space Agency (ESA) mission in 2003, the sensor head was also mounted on a robotic arm integrated to the Position Adjustable Workbench (PAW) instrument assembly [344, 345]. The sensor head shown in Figs. 8.28 and 8.29 carries the electromechanical transducer with the main and reference Co/Rh sources and detectors, a contact plate, and sensor. The contact plate and sensor are used in conjunction with the IDD to apply a small preload when it places the sensor head, holding it firmly against the target. 

The use of robotics can be adopted also in sample preparation steps, in particular on-line SPE [7], This necessity is particular evident when small quantity of starting materials is available and the target molecules are present at low concentration levels. With the advent of miniaturization and automated procedures for samples handling, treatments and analysis, the lost of analytes due to a laboratory steps can be reduced. The reduction of analyte losses and the possibility to analyze even a total sample (no loss) leads to lower limits of detection (and consequently lower limits of quantification). Smaller volumes bring to obtain adequate sensitivity and selectivity for a large variety of compounds. In addition, on-line SPE requires low solvent consumption without the need to remove all residual water from cartridges, since elution solvents are compatible with the separation methods. 

Early PCR experiments were performed by manual or robotic transfer of reaction vials between water baths or heating blocks. These have been superseded by several generations of programmable thermal cyclers. Successful PCR amplifies a single or a few copies of a target sequence of DNA by many orders of magnitude. The process is described schematically in Figure 2.9. 

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