Last Wednesday the Labman team delivered one of our robotic system enclosures to Isogenica in Cambridge. This system was fairly simple in comparison to most of our projects with the robotics platform being outsourced by Isogenica to Tecan UK. Tecan then worked with Labman, providing one of their Evolution 150 systems for integration into a safety enclosure at the Labman factory. The Tecan Evolution 150 is a liquid handling platform which uses disposable pipettes to transfer samples between microtiter plates. The Labman enclosure provides a safety rated cabinet with UV lighting for decontamination of the internal environment.
The Labman cabinet encloses the Tecan system with a large, vertically sliding door for access. The door is interlocked with the emergency stop system, removing all power from the Tecan platform once the enclosure is opened. The UV lighting is also tied into the safety system and once activated a magnetic latch clamps the door shut. The door will then remain clamped for 5 seconds after the lights are turned off.
In addition to the safety systems, Labman also designed a chilled sample rack with locations for 6 microtiter plates and 18 Falcon tubes. The chilled rack is integrated onto the Tecan robot platform and uses a circulated cooling fluid to chill samples down to zero degrees.
A two man Labman team were able to deliver the system successfully. In a single day they managed to carry all the framework and system components into the lab, assemble and commission everything before making it back to Labman in time for last orders at the local pub.