Abstract: A liquid handling robot for handling well plates. The robot has a powered anvil which loads pipette tips from a tray onto the cones of a liquid handling head by first clamping the liquid handling head to the anvil and then ramming a movable plate carrying the pipette tips onto the cones. The robot also allows for fully automated swapping between different heads, such as liquid handling heads or pin heads. A head parking station is provided for parking heads when they are not being used. The robot has an automated pipette tip tray dispenser based on storage cassettes that store vertically stacked pipette tip trays.

Abstract: A high throughput microarraying or colony picking robot with an automatic mechanism for exchanging pin heads and an automated washing and drying apparatus. The robot allows a dirty pin head to be deposited on the automated washing and drying apparatus for cleaning without use of the xyz-positioner, while spotting or picking can continue by picking up a clean pin head without having to wait for the dirty pin head to be cleaned. In this way, the speed of operation can be increased without any increase in the acceleration or speed of the x-, y- and z-drives. The dead time normally associated with the washing and drying cycle, which is usually several minutes, is therefore eliminated, and replaced with the much shorter dead time, of only a few tens of seconds, needed for changing between heads.

Abstract: A liquid handling robot for handling well plates. The robot has a powered anvil which loads pipette tips from a tray onto the cones of a liquid handling head by first clamping the liquid handling head to the anvil and then ramming a movable plate carrying the pipette tips onto the cones. The robot also allows for fully automated swapping between different heads, such as liquid handling heads or pin heads. A head parking station is provided for parking heads when they are not being used. The robot has an automated pipette tip tray dispenser based on storage cassettes that store vertically stacked pipette tip trays.

Abstract: A liquid handling robot for handling well plates. The robot has a powered anvil which loads pipette tips from a tray onto the cones of a liquid handling head by first clamping the liquid handling head to the anvil and then ramming a movable plate carrying the pipette tips onto the cones. The robot also allows for fully automated swapping between different heads, such as liquid handling heads or pin heads. A head parking station is provided for parking heads when they are not being used. The robot has an automated pipette tip tray dispenser based on storage cassettes that store vertically stacked pipette tip trays.

Abstract: A high throughput microarraying or colony picking robot with an automatic mechanism for exchanging pin heads and an automated washing and drying apparatus. The robot allows a dirty pin head to be deposited on the automated washing and drying apparatus for cleaning without use of the xyz-positioner, while spotting or picking can continue by picking up a clean pin head without having to wait for the dirty pin head to be cleaned. In this way, the speed of operation can be increased without any increase in the acceleration or speed of the x-, y- and z-drives. The dead time normally associated with the washing and drying cycle, which is usually several minutes, is therefore eliminated, and replaced with the much shorter dead time, of only a few tens of seconds, needed for changing between heads.

Abstract: A liquid handling robot for handling well plates. The robot has a powered anvil which loads pipette tips from a tray onto the cones of a liquid handling head by first clamping the liquid handling head to the anvil and then ramming a movable plate carrying the pipette tips onto the cones. The robot also allows for fully automated swapping between different heads, such as liquid handling heads or pin heads. A head parking station is provided for parking heads when they are not being used. The robot has an automated pipette tip tray dispenser based on storage cassettes that store vertically stacked pipette tip trays.

Abstract: A dual vacuum chamber manifold for processing well plates. A lower vacuum chamber (35) is formed by arranging a first well plate (25) in the base of the manifold and an upper vacuum chamber (45) is formed above the first well plate by arranging a second well plate on a manifold top plate (34). Pumping on the tipper vacuum chamber via an upper vacuum port (56) generates a vacuum to urge liquid from the upper well plate into the lover well plate. A non-return path between the vacuum chambers ensures that pumping on the upper vacuum port (56) also evacuates the lower vacuum chamber, thereby preventing a pressure differential arising around the lower well plate (25). To process the lower well plate, pumping on a lower vacuum port (58) is performed which closes the non-return path to the second vacuum chamber and thus evacuates the lower vacuum chamber alone.