ROBOTIC APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR MAINTAINING STOCKS OF SMALL ORGANISMS

摘要

Robotic apparatus and methods for maintaining a collection of stocks of small organisms, such as fruit flies. An exemplary apparatus (10) is capable of performing various tasks, including automatically transferring live flies from a donor container (32) to a recipient container (34), such as for the purpose of feeding the flies. The apparatus (10) includes an anesthetizing mechanism (82) configured to automatically introduce an anesthetic, such as gaseous C02, into a donor container (32) of live flies to temporarily immobilize the flies before the flies are transferred to the recipient container (34). The apparatus also includes a gas manifold (98) that is configured to direct a flow of gas from a compressed-gas source into the donor container (32) such that the immobilized flies are blown from the donor container (32) into the recipient container (34).