Robotics technology

A method in which a large number of assays (from thousands to millions) are performed and assessed in a relatively short time period. Typically, these assays are carried out in microplates of at least 96 wells using automated or robotic technologies. Note the rate of at least 100,000 assays per day has been termed Ultra HTS (UHTS). 

The basic system includes the controller with user memory, robot, a general-purpose hand, and the capacity for six laboratory stations. These approaches will find further use as they are applied to varying sample types. Further details of robotic systems are discussed in Chapter 6. The continuing series of automation conferences organized by the Zymark Corporation provide a ready access to the latest advances in robotic technology. 

Foster-Miller has developed robotics technologies with applications to environmental remediation. These robots include FERRET, a materials handling robot Mini-Mucker, a remotely operated dump truck Lemming, a robot designed for the retrieval of unexploded ordnance and TALON, used for explosives detection and ordnance removal. Foster-MiUer can also custom-design robots for specialized tasks. Foster-MiUer s robotics technologies are commercially available. 

Microtiter plates have a standard size of approximately 3.4" X 5.0". Within the area of the plate are typically 96 wells (8 X 12) for reagents. As technology has improved, 384-well (16 X 24) and 1,536-well (32 X 48) plates have become more common. More wells per plate translates to smaller volumes of reagents and reduced costs. However, very small volumes are difficult to dispense accurately, and the screens can lose reliability. Continued improvements in robotic technology are making the 1,536-well plate the standard format.15... 

Laboratory robotics is not an outgrowth of classical industrial robotics (manufacturing robotics). Developed independently, it focuses on the chemical process rather than on robotic hardware development. However, much of the technology that was previously developed and tested for industrial automation has found uses in laboratory robotics. Also, some classical terms are routinely used in connection with laboratory robotics and laboratory automation. By 1994, robotics had seemingly reached maturity, so a specific nomenclature for laboratory robotics and automation was issued by lUPAC [2,3]. Some of lUPAC s recommended terms are general and require the word robot or robotics for specific use (e.g. in controlled-path robots , corrosion-resistant robots , feedback in robotics , accuracy in robotics ) others are characteristic of robotic technology (e.g. arm , articulate structure , flexible automation , manipulator ). 

Although robotic technology is claimed to provide flexible automation, in fact it possesses limited flexibility and applicability. 

Because robotic technology continues to have some magical connotations in relation to laboratory automation, a number of manufacturers and users still use the words robot and robotic indifferently to refer to both robotic stations and workstations. In addition, any instance of automation is also indiscriminately associated with robotics by many. One case in point is the Internet page http //www.lab-robotics.org/manufact.htm, where... 

Most frequently, using a robotic station to develop an entire analytical process is unwarranted. In the mid-1980s, when robotic technology first reached the analytical laboratory, robots were more of a novelty than a useful tool. At that time, conventional manual titrations and similarly easy tasks were entrusted to robotic stations. At present, however, well-established criteria exist to ensure correct use of the potential of robotic technology. 

Various other fields benefit from the use of robotics. For example, the unstoppable advances in robotic technology have led to the development of a microrobotic arm constructed by using lithographic techniques that can be mobilized in an aqueous environment to pick up, lift and reposition a 100-pm glass bead. The 670 pm-long robot arm. 

Robotics as implemented in workstations and robotic stations has proved to be one of the most accurate and autonomous automated facilities, a fact that directly influences both the productivity and the quality of the analytical results it provides. However, and despite the continuous advances, further expansion of robotic technology is meeting with several serious hindrances, namely ... 

Howanitz PJ, Sunseri DA, Love LA, Lohr A. Adapting mobile robotic technology to intralaboratory specimen transport Arch Pathol Lab Med 1996 120 944-50. 

Robotics technology is used to manipulate highly radioactive samples safely. 

Fig. 3 shows a robot navigation application. This was inspired by an installation of G2 at the Robotics Technology Group at the Savannah River Laboratory. The robots in the example seek the shortest path toward one of the "goals." The user can connect and disconnect the nodes of the example, and G2 will understand if the path exists between the nodes. The animation feature of G2 is used to move the robots during the scenario. The use of robots in a nuclear plant is primarily intended to avoid sending humans into hazardous environments. There are many examples in conventional chemical plants where a similar use of robots would be well justified. 

The application of robots In the laboratory Is still at an early stage of development. However, It is easy to predict that robots will occupy a prominent place In laboratories In the years to come. Nevertheless, despite the popular connotations behind the word robot , technology Is not yet In a position to offer inexpensive, Intelligent moving machines In the style of the well-known androids of science-fiction films. 

Remote maintenance is more expensive, but may be safer for the personnel and desirable from the standpoint of continuity of operations because equipmrat replacemmts can be carried out quickly and interruption of operation is relatively brief. Modem robot technology simplifies such remote maintenance. 

The Power of Microarrays—Robotic Technology Meets Biochemistry... 

How do microarrays work Robotic technology is used to load thousands of samples of DNA or protein onto a microchip. Biological samples are then overlaid on the chip and the binding is evaluated through the use of fluorescence. In the case of a DNA chip, for example, the mRNA from a cell is labeled with a red fluorescent marker. When put on the chip, the location of the red dots tells which DNA sequences were matched by the mRNA. Another cell sample taken under different conditions may have its mRNA labeled with a green fluorescent marker. Gomparing where the red and green dots are then tells the researcher the differences in mRNA expression under the two circumstances. 

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