Systems and methods for robotic transport

• US 7,787,681 B2
• Filed: 08/24/2007
• Issued: 08/31/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York (Columbia University)
• Original Assignee: Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York (Columbia University)
• Inventors: Salerno, Alessio, Dutta, Aparajita, Simaan, Nabil, Brenner, David J., Randers-Pehrson, Gerhard, Zhang, Jian, Garty, Guy, Yao, Y. Lawrence
• Primary Examiner(s): SHERALI, ISHRAT I
• Application Number:
  US11/895,485
• Publication Number:
  US 20090054222A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,103 Days
• Field of Search: 382128-134, 382/153, 422 63- 73, 700245-249, 378 62- 67, 600/3, 600/300, 600/407, 600/584, 604/4.1, 604/141, 604/151, 604/19, 506/7, 324/316, 705/2, 702/19
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: C40B 30/10 by measuring physical properties, e.g. mass
• CPC Class Codes: C40B 60/12 for screening libraries

Abstract

Systems and methods for robotic transport are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, robotic systems for transporting biological samples include: a plurality of capillary vessels, in which each capillary vessel can contain a biological sample from a population; a receptacle that can contain the plurality of capillary vessels; a centrifuge; a first robotic device that can transport the receptacle between an input module and the centrifuge; a second robotic device that can transport the receptacle between the centrifuge and a sample harvest location; a cutting device that can cut each of the plurality of capillary vessels; a multi-well plate having a plurality of wells arranged in an array; and a third robotic device that can transfer at least one portion of each of the plurality of biological samples from each of the plurality of capillary vessels to a corresponding well in the array.

Claims

1. A robotic system for transporting biological samples, comprising:

(a) a plurality of capillary vessels, each capillary vessel containing a biological sample from a population;

(b) a receptacle, said receptacle containing the plurality of capillary vessels;

(c) a centrifuge;

(d) a first robotic device for transporting the receptacle between an input module and the centrifuge;

(e) a second robotic device for transporting the receptacle between the centrifuge and a sample harvest location;

(f) a cutting device for cutting each of the plurality of capillary vessels;

(g) a multi-well plate having a plurality of wells arranged in an array; and

(h) a third robotic device for transferring at least one portion of each of the plurality of biological samples from each of the plurality of capillary vessels to a corresponding well in the array.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the second robotic device transports each of the plurality of capillary vessels between the sample harvest location and the multi-well plate.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the third robotic device transports each of the plurality of capillary vessels between the multi-well plate array and a disposal location.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the second robotic device is further adapted to rotate the capillary during cutting.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for moving the array adjacent to an imaging element.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the imaging element comprises a microscope.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the second robotic device comprises a pneumatic gripper adapted to handle centrifuge buckets and microplates and a photoelectric sensor adapted to detect the arms of the centrifuge rotor.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the third robotic device comprises a compressed-air source for transferring each portion, a plunger-collet-spring passive gripping device for handling the capillary vessels and a motor-planetary-gearhead-encoder-spur-gear actuation unit for rotating the capillary.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the receptacle is a bucket that is removable from the first robotic device and that couples to the centrifuge.

10. The system of claim 1,wherein the first robotic device is a selective compliance assembly robot arm.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a fourth robotic device for transferring the multi-well date between the multi-well plate and a liquid handling system.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a fifth robotic device for transferring the multi-well plate between the liquid handling system and an incubator.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a processor and wherein the processor is further adapted to perform motion planning for the first robotic device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the motion planning is based on signals from a plurality of sensors.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the first robotic device and the second robotic device are a single robotic device.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the second robotic device and the third robotic device are a single robotic device.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the first robotic device, the second robotic device and the third robotic device are a single robotic device.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the biological sample is used to identify a level of radiation exposure.

25. The system of claim 15, wherein the second robotic device comprises a pneumatic gripper adapted to handle centrifuge buckets and microplates and a photoelectric sensor adapted to detect the arms of the centrifuge rotor.

26. The system of claim 15, wherein the third robotic device comprises a compressed-air source for transferring each portion, a plunger-collet-spring passive gripping device for handling the capillary vessels and a motor-planetary-gearhead-encoder-spur-gear actuation unit for rotating the capillary.

27. The system of claim 15, wherein the receptacle is a bucket that is removable from the first robotic device and that couples to the centrifuge.

28. The system of claim 15, wherein the robotic device is a selective compliance assembly robot arm.

29. The system of claim 15, wherein a fourth robotic device for transfers the multi-well plate between the multi-well plate and a liquid handling system.

30. The system of claim 15, further comprising a fourth robotic device for transferring the multi-well plate between the liquid handling system and an incubator.

31. The system of claim 15, further comprising performing motion planning for the robotic device using a processor.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the motion planning is based on signals from a plurality of sensors.

33. The system of claim 15, wherein the first robotic device and the second robotic device are a single robotic device.

34. The system of claim 15, wherein the second robotic device and the third robotic device are a single robotic device.

35. The system of claim 15, wherein the first robotic device, the second robotic device and the third robotic device are a single robotic device.

36. The system of claim 15, wherein the biological sample is used to identify a level of radiation exposure.

19. A method for transporting biological samples using a robotic system, comprising:

(a) transporting a receptacle to a centrifuge using a first robotic device, said receptacle containing a plurality of capillary vessels and each said capillary vessel containing a biological sample;

(b) centrifuging the receptacle;

(c) transferring the receptacle from the centrifuge to a cutting device using a second robotic device;

(d) cutting each of the plurality of capillary vessels using the cutting device; and

(e) transferring at least a portion of each of the plurality of biological samples from each of the capillary vessels to a corresponding well in a multi-well plate using a third robotic device, said multi-well plate having a plurality of wells arranged in an array.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising transporting each of the capillary vessels from the cutting device to the multi-well plate.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising transporting each of the capillary vessels from the multi-well plate to a disposal location.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising rotating each of the capillary vessels using the second robotic device while cutting each of the capillary vessels.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising moving the array adjacent to an imaging element.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the imaging element comprises a microscope.

37. A robotic system for transporting biological samples, comprising:

(a) a plurality of capillary vessels, each capillary vessel containing a biological sample from a population;

(b) a holding means for holding the plurality of capillary vessels;

(c) a centrifuge means for separating each of the biological samples into a plurality of elements;

(d) a first transporting means for transporting the holding means, including the plurality of capillary vessels, to the centrifuge means;

(e) a second transporting means for transporting the receptacle from the centrifuge to a cutting location;

(f) a cutting means for cutting each of the plurality of capillary vessels at the cutting location;

(g) a holding means having a plurality of locations, each of the plurality of locations for holding at least one portion of one of the plurality of biological samples; and

(h) a transferring means for transferring at least one portion of each of the plurality of biological samples from each of the plurality of capillary vessels to a corresponding location in the holding means.