Flexible Dual-Arm Robot in Automated Sample Preparation and Measurement Processes

The degree of automation in the area of analytical measurements is still low-in contrast to well-automated bioscreening and high-throughput screening applications. Typical analytical measurement processes are very complex and involve transportation, sample preparation including direct manipulation and operation of laboratory devices as well as measurement and data evaluation. A wide variety of vessels and containers is used for chemicals and samples; the processes are often changing and have to be modified frequently. The demand for flexible and adaptable automation solutions is high. Flexibility includes the use of multiple instruments-conventional manual instruments and automation equipment-and an easy system change to a wide variety of applications. Dual-arm robotic systems captivate by their human like structure and the possibility to perform processes in the same way as human laboratory assistants. Especially in highly regulated areas, this property may be a big advantage since existing manual standard procedures can still be used. A dual-arm robotic system is presented for fully automated sample preparation and measurement. A new concept for robot motion planning and process generation is introduced to increase the system performance-processing times and flexibility. The motion planning approaches were practically compared by performing a sample preparation process with subsequent determination of the enantiomeric excess of amino acids. The results show a reduction of the processing time of 30.3% with measurement results close to the manual procedure.