Robotic Automation Triples Sample Preparation Throughput
- Oct 30
- 4 min read
Automated viral dispensing system increases biopharmaceutical R&D lab’s throughput by 300% with precision robotics, LabVIEW, NI TestStand, PXI hardware and machine vision.
Project Summary
Automated sample dispensing system increased biopharmaceutical R&D lab's throughput by 300% with LabVIEW, NI Test Stand, PXI
System Features & Components
6-axis robot arm with precision gripper and machine vision to ensure safe and efficient slide handling
16-channel peristaltic pump system for transporting suspensions with viral material to dispensing nozzle
NI LabVIEW and Test Stand sotware architecture for controlling PXI and process hardware
Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) cabinet with laminar airflow for containment of viral matter
Outcomes
300% sample preparation throughput increase (1,00 slides per 2-hour cycle)
Complete containment of infections materials through implementation of Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) protocols
5-30μL dispensing accuracy (±10%) ensures consistent test preparation
Emergency safety systems with light curtain monitoring
Technology at-a-glance
Hardware:
NI PXI-1082 Chassis (obsolete)
NI PXI-6225 (obsolete)
1300 Series Class II, Type A2 Biological Safety Cabinet (Thermofischer)
6-stop Indexing Rotary Table
Denso 6-axis robot
Watson Marlow 520Di Peristaltic Pump Drive (16 channel)
Basler Camera 4 Megapixel Color
Edmund Optics Telecentric Lens
SONY Mini Pinhole Lens Camera
Sick Proximity Sensors
Safety Light Curtain Sender and Photoelectric Sensor
Software:
Biopharmaceutical Viral Research
Breakthroughs in biopharmaceutical research depend on precise, high-volume testing of viral samples. Researchers require thousands of consistently prepared test slides with exact viral concentrations to develop flu vaccines or understand the transmission of respiratory diseases.
The manual preparation of virus-coated slides can slow critical research and expose laboratory personnel to risk because of the continuous handling of infectious materials. For biopharmaceutical R&D labs, testing throughput directly impacts their research timelines and discovery rates. To accelerate their research and bring treatments to market faster, researchers need an automated solution that can handle infectious materials safely and rapidly prepare viral samples.
Manual Sample Preparation Bottlenecks
A biopharmaceutical R&D company faced a serious bottleneck in their respiratory desease testing program due to the manual dispensation of viral samples by laboratory operators. Operators were dispensing eight different viral samples, including rhinovirus, influenza, and SARS, onto individual test slides, one by one. This manual process grealy limited their resting capacity and created safety concerns for operators handling infectious materials at scale.
Their existing workflow could only produce a fraction of the test slides they needed to support their research initiatives, which created delays in their studies and greatly limited their ability to scale their programs effectively.
This biopharmaceutical R&D company decided to collaborate with Cyth Systems to build an automated slide coating solution because of their expertise with industrial automation and precise mechanical control.
Industrial Automation and Robotics
Cyth engineered a fully automated viral dispensing system that integrated precision robotics, multi-channel pumping, and biological safety containment.
Cyth designed a complete automated workflow to transform their inefficient, manual processes into a high-throughput and safety-focused operation.
Core System components:
Heated stirring plate for maintaining suspension of eight distinct viruses in liquid mediums
16-channel peristaltic pump for delivering precise viral volumes to nozzles for dispensation onto a slide
Denso 6-axis robot arm for managing slide positioning with 5-30μL dispensing accuracy (±10%)
Indexing rotary table for transporting coated and dried slides to a rack for storage
Biological Safety Lever II cabinet for containing infections materials
Advanced Process Architecture built on NI Labview and TestStand: Supervisory processes built on LabVIEW programs orchestrated by NI TestStand software. NI PXI chassis delivers high-speed I/O and Modbus/RS485 communication capabilities to coordinate system hardware.
Precision Robotic Control through Machine Vision: Sick proximity sensors and high-resolution cameras identify available positions on the drying rack.
Comprehensive Safety Intgration: Emergency light curtains trigger immediate halt to process hardware if the enclosure is breached. The Biological Safety Level II (BSL-II) cabinet uses laminar airflow to contain all viral particles and prevent contamination of samples.
Workflow steps:
Robot arm retrieves clean slides from supply stack
Heated stirring plate (1) prepares viral content for dispensation; eight distinct viruses were suspended in a liquid medium.
16-channel peristaltic pump (2) delivers virus suspensions to dispensing nozzles.
Denso 6-axis robot arm (4) picks up an available testing slide (3) and positions it underneath the nozzle to be coated in the suspension, then the arm transports the slide to a drying rack
Indexing rotary table (5) transports completed and dried samples to an available rack with storage for up to 1000 samples
Sample Preparation Throughput Tripled
Production efficiency gains:
300% increase in test sample preparation throughput
1,000 slides produced every 2-hour cycle
Continuous operation with minimal manual interaction from operators
Enhanced safety:
Complete containment of infections materials achieved adhering to BSL-II protocols
Eliminated direct operator exposure to viral samples
Emergency stop enables immediate operator intervention as needed
Research acceleration:
Increased access to high-quality samples greatly increased biopharmaceutical research testing capacity
Consistent dispensation of slide coating improved reliability of research results
Reduced slide preparation time allows researchers to focus on analysis rather than sample preparation
The automated system has positioned the biopharmaceutical R&D company to scale their respiratory disease research programs significantly, enabling them to accelerate the development of treatments. The enhanced safety protocols, combined with increased sample preparation throughput gave the R&D company a competitive advantage when securing research contracts and advancing their pharmaceutical developments.
