Integration of robotic systems for high throughput lab automation

 

Summary
Today, more than ever, lab technicians in R&D and QC areas facing a growing array of new challenges. Not only are product quality, health and safety (think of REACH) requirements in- creasingly stringent, but fierce competition is also forcing companies to develop and test (new) products in shorter time spans. So with the many challenges that lie ahead for product developers, Robotic integration in a HT Lab is now an indispensable tool. And thankfully I am not the only person who thinks so.
During this presentation we would like to discuss a few examples of the endless possibilities of custom lab automation and the challenges we face within Automation in some very different domains. From lubricating oils, milk, water and other materials over a wide viscosity range.
1.    Application Examples

• High Throughput Sub Sampling systems for used oils where we reformat from primary vials to IR vials inclusive the integration of; capping and decapping functionality – automatic stacking of input and output racks – PQ Analyzer and Crackle tests. Subsampling can also be done for TAN, TBN, etc
• High Throughput Sub Sampling system for water analyses where water samples were stored in a large storage center, capacity of 1200 sample bottles – capping/de-capping – integration of pH measurement and turbidity check – sub sampling to ICP vials.
• High Throughput Purification and Reformatting as part of a complete crude products purification and reformatting process, including analysis, purifying, weighing, reformatting, drying, capping and a custom database.

1.1.    Software Parameters
The software offers the possibility to define detailed parameters in order to automate your process of lubricating oils, Water, Milk and similar materials over a wide viscosity range in the most efficient way. With this we aim to achieve the best possible result. In our standard Xperimate Toolbox software which controls all robotics and third party equipment you can define various options such as; Setup of calibration- and QA-standards, Setup of samples, Setup of pipetting parameters, Measuring parameters, Factor calculations. Ideally every sample has a unique barcode and is treated automatically according to a predefined work list.
1.2.    LIMS and Work list
To work fully automatically, all system needs sample information files. These work lists hold the number of samples with their specific sample information and treatment.
These sample work list can be obtained in two ways:

• Automatically from the LIMS.
• Manual entry of work lists.

1.3.    Continuous operation & Safety
An enclosure around the system protects the lab technician against the robot arm. When opening the door to load or remove samples the system will automatically pause and continue when door closes.