Diagnostic Vial Re-Racker
Automation within lab environments continues to expand into new applications driven by the need for greater efficiency, accuracy, and scale.
Arimation works with scientists and operators to build solutions that can improve efficiency, data collection and throughput.
CASE STUDY: Eliminating Repetitive Tasks with a Diagnostic Vial Re-Racker
CHALLENGE
After developing a new manufacturing process, Precision Diagnostics experienced higher costs and delays due to additional manual intervention steps. The process required a dedicated person to repeatedly move and re-rack vials between different instruments.
As Richard Thomas, Chief Scientific Officer at Precision Diagnostics, shared, “We decided to invest in automating our vial re-racking process primarily to improve efficiency by removing a tedious task.”
SOLUTION
This design to build solution started as a collaborative effort to finalize the overall design of the system and to get a clear understanding and alignment between the parties. Arimation and Precision Diagnostics worked together closely during this stage to design the instrument.
Richard explains why they chose Arimation, “We needed a partner who would not only meet our requirements but push us to think bigger — delivering automation that prepares us for future growth. We found that partner in Arimation.”
The final solution was a vial re-racking semi-automatic instrument that allowed scientists and operators to interact safely with the machine while still eliminating manual process steps.
At its core was the Brooks PreciseFlex 3400 collaborative robot. By using this robot, Arimation could eliminate guarding, which provided a lower cost, more compact and safe working environment. In addition, the robot has high workspace density and provides higher speeds than typical collaborative robots.
In addition to the collaborative robot, the solution included an integrated servo gripper to automate the detection and release of mis-picked vials. This design eliminated the need for an external dress-pack for the end-of-arm tooling, simplifying the system configuration.
VALUE
This automation optimizes vial re-racking efficiency by allowing operators to tend to multiple processes instead of having to dedicate a resource to this application.
“With this instrument, our staff could simply start the instrument, walk-away and tend to other processes while it ran, eliminating the need for a dedicated resource,” shared Richard.
At the same time, the instrument design ensured that low power consumption was achieved to keep costs low.
CONTINUED INNOVATION
The automation plans for Precision Diagnostics doesn’t stop with the vial re-racking instrument. As Richard summarized, "This project has been an important step in our automation journey. We learned a great deal throughout the process, and it’s clear that automation will play a key role in how we scale and innovate going forward."