Hardware Developments Enhance the Reliability & Performance of Robotic Automation Platforms for High Throughput Screening

Abstract

The
Global High Throughput Screening Centre at AstraZeneca requires versatile
automation to adapt to the many different assay formats carried out. We achieve
this using modular systems based
on HighRes BioSolution’s task-based CoLAB Flex
carts e.g. dispense carts and reader carts. Individual Flex carts are
controlled using A-cell robots, they are unshielded and can be run
independently. Alternatively, 2 Flex carts can be docked together to form
a semi-automated Cart2Cart system and up to 5 Flex carts can be
docked around a central Kuka robot on a CoLAB Microstar. The AZ Automation
Team has been carrying out hardware improvements on these systems, including:  evaluating
Smart Lab Safety glasses for remote working, reconfiguring a fixed
table PHERAstar FSX plate reader to increase screen capacity,
establishing automated dispenser cleaning to facilitate out-of-hours operation,
and deploying a camera monitoring system on the platforms to improve system
reliability. These hardware improvements have simplified collaboration,
improved throughput, and helped to catch reduce errors.