Transfer or interrogation of materials by carrier and receiving devices moving independently and simultaneously on multiple axes

摘要

Material transfer/interrogation devices (e.g. liquid handling workstations) have been designed in the past for transferring material from a source to a destination location or for interrogating a material at a location, where the locations remain fixed. The invention provides methods and apparatuses for transferring or interrogating materials by one or more carrier devices to one or more receiving devices, where the carrier and receiving devices move independently and simultaneously on multiple axes. In some embodiments, one or more of the carrier and receiving devices can move along an X, Z, Y, and Theta axis, which allows the source and destination locations to rotate and translate relative to each other. Due to this rotation and translation, containers can be positioned to minimize the distance traveled between a pick location from the source and a place location on the destination, greatly increasing the speed at which material transfer can occur.

主权项

1. A system for transfer of material from a source location to a destination location comprising:
a hub comprising a stationary base; a plurality of carrier devices moveably connected to the hub for transferring the material from the source location to the destination location, the plurality of carrier devices comprising a first carrier device and a second carrier device; a carrier movement mechanism connected to the hub and forming a part of each of the plurality of carrier devices to move each of the plurality of carrier devices independently from each other along at least two first axes, an axis of the at least two first axes being a translation axis parallel to the stationary base; a plurality of receiving devices moveably connected to the hub, each receiving device of the plurality of receiving devices being configured for holding a container having at least one of the source location or the destination location, the plurality of receiving devices comprising a first receiving device and a second receiving device; a receiver movement mechanism connected to the hub and forming a part of each of the plurality of receiving devices to move each of the plurality of receiving devices independently from each other along at least two second axes, a first axis of the at least two second axes being a rotation axis perpendicular to the stationary base, a second axis of the at least two second axes being a translation axis parallel to the stationary base; and a computer system including instructions for the carrier movement mechanism and the receiver movement mechanism to simultaneously coordinate movement of each of (1) the first carrier device and the second carrier device along the at least two first axes and (2) the first receiving device and the second receiving device along the at least two second axes, to positions where the first carrier device and the second carrier device have access to a container that may be held by the first receiving device or the second receiving device.