Robotic Laboratory Equipment Start Price USD 21,000.00 Current Price USD 21,000.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Sunday, August 24, 2008 End Time Wednesday, September 03, 2008 Location Plainsboro, NJ, USA See more about 'Robotic Laboratory Equipment' Description Automated robotic laboratory testing equipment for sale.  Can use as an integrated system or adapt individual components for other laboratory or industrial uses. The system was originally design to screen large numbers of agrochemicals for insecticidal activity on leaf disks contained in 24 cell-well plates. The system is composed of the following components connected in a conveyer system: 1. Robotic articulated arm for cutting leaf disks and video system for counting Aphids.  Can be adapted to other uses 2. A laboratory liquid handling system (mulitipipette) system adapted for small spraying of leaf disks.  This is a standard laboratory model that can be adapted to standardized liquid handling operations in laboratories. 3. A cell-well plate sealing system and conveyer system. Details are described below. Buyer must be willing to pick up crated unit from Plainsboro, NJ.  and accept any liabilities from the time of pick-up.  Unit is sold as is with no guarantee.   Interested buyers may inspect unit prior to purchase. Manuals for components are included . Payment by Cashier's check. Detailed Description: General Background: Custom,  semi-automated system for testing large numbers of chemical compounds in whole organism assays.  This system is unique in the industry and allows testing of up to 500 compounds a day. Two operators can run two assays simultaneously, achieving a throughput of 2,500 compounds/week against two different targets. The system is based on three independent modules: one for excising leaf or paper disks and transferring to 24-well plates, a second module for automatically spraying compounds on the disks, a third module for drying the applied compounds and then sealing and perforating the plates.  The modules can be operated independently or integrated.  This document provides general specifications and descriptions for each module, using an aphid assay as a specific example.     Module 1: Leaf Cutting   The first segment of the automated screening system consists of a robotic leaf cutting module.  It is based on a robotic arm that is integrated with high-resolution optics which allows the identification of a critical number of aphids on the surface of the cotton leaf.  The system could likewise distinguish disease lesions or phytotoxic symptoms.  The robot, consisting of a Staubli RX 90 six-axis articulated arm, is equipped with an end effecter that will excise leaf disks from those leaf locations where it has identified a critical number of aphids.  The cylindrical blade rapidly cuts a disk approximately 1.5 cm in diameter and transfers the disk to a 24 well plate.  The blade can cut and transfer a broad number of leaf types.  The system is designed to fill all the wells of a 24 well plate in less than four minutes with less than 1% of plates with empty wells or misplaced disks.  The system gently pushes disks onto an agar base in the wells providing consistent contact between disk and agar to provide moisture during incubation.       Also associated with the first module is a conveyor system which contains leaf “pallets” where leaves are loaded to await cutting. A second conveyor moves empty 24 well plates into position to receive cut leaf disks.  The robot arm can be operated by a local control panel or via a master system computer.  The module has fully integrated vision systems that identify locations of insects such as aphids on the leaf, and then cuts only in those areas of the leaf that would result in a specified number per disk.   Leaf Cutter General Specifications and Safety Requirements:   a.     Safety guarding and protective interlock systems. b.     Emergency stops   i. Robot:   1.     Stäubli RX90 six-axis robot arm with integrated end-effecter assembly 2.     Local control panel for robot operation 3.     Ability to be controlled via a master system computer 4.     Emergency stops 5.     Integrated vision systems 6.     Cutter assembly cleaning station 7.     Automated operation except for operator to load materials                           ii.     End-Effector Assembly:   1.     Ability to place cut-leaf disks consistently ventral side up 2.     Ability to provide good contact between cut-leaf disks and the agar surface in wells of cut-leaf plates 3.     Able to accommodate variable height of agar surface in wells of cut-leaf plates 4.     System will re-try cut-leaf disk transfer three times before providing a system error message and operator notification but will continue operating 5.     System will stop and inform operator if it was unsuccessful in filling 2 or more wells within a single plate. 6.     Flexibility to cut leaves up to 1.5 mm thick. 7.     System will be supplied with a spare cutter assembly.                            iii.     Vision Systems:   1.     Ability to distinguish aphids from cast skins.  Can alternatively be calibrated to identify disease lesions, phytotoxic symptoms, etc. 2.     Ability to QC the placement of cut-leaf disks within the wells of the cut-leaf plates. 3.     Ability to discern full wells from empty wells                           iv.     Conveyors and Pallets:   1.     Leaf  pallet conveyor:   a.     Conveyor will carry leaf transport pallets loaded with leaves from the leaf-loading table to the robotic leaf cutter system and back to the leaf-loading table. b.     Conveyor will be able to queue 20 loaded leaf transport pallets. c.      Leaf pallets with 100 cm2 of surface   2.     Leaf sample conveyor:   a.     Conveyor will carry cut-leaf plates from the leaf-loading table to the leaf-cutting system and then through to the leaf-spraying system. b.     Conveyor will be able to queue 15 empty cut-leaf plates.   3.     Leaf transport pallets:   a.     Pallets will have rapid hold-down clips for easy operator use. b.     Pallet size will be use the standard SBS footprint. c.      Pallets will have a cutting surface designed for long service-life.   4.     Cut-leaf plates will be standard SBS footprint plates with 24 wells in a 4 by 6 grid layout.   c.      Robotic leaf-cutting system will be able to operate as a stand-alone module with manual loading and unloading by the operator.   d.     Robotic leaf-cutting system surrounded by a guarding cage.   Module 2: Spraying   The second module of the integrated aphid automation system receives plates that are loaded with aphid infested leaf disks via a conveyor system.  The module consists of a Packard Multiprobe 2 that transfers solvated test compounds from wells of SBS standard plates to a Venturi spray system.  The Venturi head then deposits a fine mist of spray into each well of the 24 well plate.  The system is currently configured to spray in triplicate, allowing testing of eight separate compounds per 24 well plate.  Spray configurations can be altered for other assays.  After each spraying the machine thoroughly cleans the aluminum spray block to ensure no compound carryover.  The deck of the standard, eight-pipette tip Multiprobe 2 liquid handling robot has been altered to fit the plate conveyor, but still has enough positions for compound plates and boxes of tips to allow for operator independent spraying of up to 384 samples per test.   Specifications Module 2:   Leaf-spraying system is built from a Packard Multiprobe 2 automated eight pipet tip liquid handling system designed for laboratory use and modified to support the specific leaf-spraying requirements of this system.   Leaf-spraying system has a four nozzle Venturi spray system with adjustable air pressure.  Nozzles are mounted in a block or on a plate, and the nozzle spacing is fixed by the block or plate.    Spraying is done with minimal drift of the sprayed compounds.  Initial tests with highly active compounds have detected no well to well carryover.   Liquid handling portion of the leaf-spraying system is able to do the following:                              i.     Ability to spray samples in singlets, doublets, triplicates.                           ii.     Ability to mix compounds prior to spraying                          iii.     Ability to incorporate a solvent wash step after each compound treatment.                         iv.     Solvent wash will not contact the valves of the liquid handling system.                           v.     Liquid handling system detects and records barcodes on both source plates and cut-leaf plates and to associate the data for source compounds with the destination wells in the cut-leaf plates and be able to output a data files of this information   The leaf sample conveyor carry cut-leaf plates received from the leaf-cutting system conveyor through the leaf-spraying system and then onto a dryer/sealer module.   Leaf-spraying system has an emergency stop.   Leaf-spraying system can operate as a stand-alone module with manual loading and unloading by the operator.   Module 3:  Leaf Drying and Plate Sealing   Once the leaf disks in the 24-well plates are sprayed, the third module rapidly dries the disks, seals the plates, and perforates the sealing material to provide air for the aphids.  The plates advance from the spray module along a continuously moving conveyor through a drying tunnel.  The speed of the conveyor determines the length of time in the tunnel and can be controlled to adjust for varying room and seasonal humidity.  Once dried, plates are transferred via grippers to the deck of a standard Brandel RS-3000 plate sealer.  The machine applies a specialized pressure-sensitive adhesive tape to the top of the plate.  After sealing the plate is loaded back on to the conveyor where it moves into a machine that perforates each well of the plate with 16 pin holes around the periphery of the well.  This provides air to the plants or animals and the placement of the holes does not interfere with visualization via scanning systems.  The plate is then deposited on a table for transfer to growth chambers prior to  reading.   Specifications Module 3:   Continuously moving conveyer to transport plates through drying tunnel, sealer and perforator. Custom drying tunnel containing hinged aluminum lid for plate access, baffles for even air distribution. Controls to adjust plate dwell time in tunnel Two inverted walking beam grippers to on and off-load plates to sealer Brandel RS-3000 semi-automated plate sealer Custom perforator that will perforate sealing material at the outer edges of wells from a 24-plate Air table to receive completed plates. Place a Bid!