Hardware (Adam)

The Robot Scientist Adam hardware has been assembled by Caliper Life Sciences. Our thanks to Mike Benway, Paul Savage, Kath Hawkesworth and others at Caliper for their role in the design and integration of such a bespoke and unusual system.

This hardware diagram illustrates the various equipment that makes up the robot. This equipment includes three incubators, two liquid handlers, a microplate washer, a microplate centrifuge, three robot arms, two microplate shuttles, two barcode readers, two plate readers and several PCs. All the equipment is integrated via controlling software on the PCs. The whole system is physically protected by a perspex enclosure (or "cage") which is fed HEPA filtered air by two fans that keep the cage at positive pressure in order to minimise experiment cross-contamination.

We have a variety of monitoring devices for the robot, including various environment sensors and webcams, and much of the robot hardware itself is capable of providing addtional useful meta-data.

List of equipment:

This is divided into 4 sections; the 3 robot sub-sections called System 1 to System 3, and the Main controlling system that links the sub-sections together. PCs and smaller components are not listed, neither are structural components such as tables and the enclosure which surrounds everything. Please refer to the diagram linked above for relative positions.

Main

DCU (Direct Control Unit) - switching controller that operates the inter-system plate slides.

System 1

Caliper Twister II (1 of 2) - robot arm used to move and manipulate microplates. Includes 3 iStax consumable storage stacks that hold microplates and tips.
Thermo MultiDrop 384 - liquid dispenser used to aliquot rich growth media into pregrowth microplates.
Presto Liquid Handler (PLH) - liquid handler used for stab inoculation of pregrowth plate wells from frozen yeast strain library stocks.
Liconic STR-602 plate freezer (-20C) - automated yeast strain library storage freezer capable of holding over 300 deep well microplates. Includes an external platform to which a library plate is presented for collection by the Twister robot arm.
Inter-system plate slide (1 of 2) - pneumatic slide which transports a microplate from system 1 to system 2.
Microscan MS-3 Barcode Reader (1 of 2) - reads the unique barcode label identifiers on each pregrowth microplate.
MeCour 4 Position Cold/Hot Locator - provides cooling for the reservoir plates on the Sciclone i1000 deck in system 2.
Hepa Filter fan (1 of 2) - blows a continuous supply of sterile filtered cool external air into the enclosure, and is aimed at the PLH deck to help prevent contamination of the open microplates and library plates.

System 2

Caliper Twister II (2 of 2) - robot arm used to move and manipulate microplates. Includes 3 iStax consumable storage stacks that hold microplates and tips.
Sciclone i1000 Liquid Handler - complex liquid handler capable of aspirating and dispensing variable volumes with each of its 96 cannulae simultaneously. Used to normalise the pregrowth plates and prepare the growth experiment plates using mutiple media and nutrient solution reservoirs. Includes Sciclone ALH Right Side Gripper Tool (no Z8) to remove and replace plate lids.
Microscan MS-3 Barcode Reader (2 of 2) - reads the unique barcode label identifiers on each pregrowth microplate.
Inter-system plate slide (2 of 2) - pneumatic slide which transports a microplate from system 2 to system 3.
Velocity 11 V-Spin Microplate centrifuge - used to pellet the yeast strain cells in the microplates prior to washing.
Bio-Tek 405 Select Microplate Washer - used to wash cell pellets to remove rich media before resuspension and transfer to the Sciclone deck for processing.
Liconic STX-40 incubator (+30C) (1 of 3) - automated shaking microplate incubator used to grow the pregrowth plates.
MDC SpectraMax 190 Reader (1 of 2) - automated microplate reader used to measure optical density of wells in the pregrowth plates. Automated AI decision code makes the decision whether they have grown enough for the plate to be processed or whether to return it to the incubator.
Hepa Filter fan (2 of 2) - blows a continuous supply of sterile filtered cool external air into the enclosure, and is aimed at the Sciclone deck to help prevent contamination of the open microplates and reservoir plates.

System 3

IAI Scara IX Robot (and X-SEL IX-Series Controller) - precision robot arm used to move microplates around in system 3.
MDC SpectraMax 190 Reader (2 of 2) - automated microplate reader used to measure optical density of wells in the growth plates. Automated decision code flags the plates as done after a certain amount of time so the system can dispose of the plate to waste.
Liconic STX-40 incubators (+30C) (2 of 3 and 3 of 3) - automated shaking microplate incubators used to grow the growth plates. Have an external platform from which plates are loaded or unloaded.
VarioMag Teleshake - microplate shaker used to periodically resuspend cells and mix well contents to reduce noise in optical density readings.