Robotic Biobank

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In the proposed project a novel robot will be developed to operate inside a freezer at -80C. It will provide a robotic high throughput solution to biobanking, i.e. storage and retrieval of biological samples for a variety of research projects. Biobanking is of strategic importance to a wide range of research activities in health science from genetic research to the development and evaluation of drugs and treatments. Storage of the biological sample tubes at a very low temperature and providing high frequency access to them at the same time introduces a dilemma to automation technology. These samples are sensitive to temperature fluctuations and therefore it is preferred for any automatic handling solution to be located completely inside the freezer. However, the extreme temperature makes such a solution challenging since many of the available technologies fail in such low temperature. In the proposed project, a novel robot is designed in such a way that all the sensitive parts including the actuators and sensors are stationary located outside the freezer. The mechanical power is transported using a single loop of cable. A coordinated movement of the stationary actuators determine the position of the robot end-effector. This has also significantly reduced the moving mass of the robot facilitating the high accelerations and velocities. It is expected that the robot provide 600 accesses to individual sample tubes per hour.