Hello all,
I wanted to reach out to see if anyone had experience with utilizing the Hamilton Vantage with a Dual Arm configuration. We are looking to upgrade our Hamilton Vantage to have an addition arm with 5 mL channel for high volume processing.
Some questions I had are:
Best,
Jon
Hi Jon,
Hamilton has installed and supports numerous dual arm VANTAGE configurations which also include a track gripper. VANTAGE as a platform is highly configurable, so I can give tailored consult if you are able to share your specific configuration and needs:
I can give the best possible information for your particular case if you are able to provide the above specifications, but for now I can give you some general info.
To answer your first question, yes you can absolutely have both arms used in parallel via parallel process, fork/join calls or VENUS dynamic scheduler. Check this thread for a couple general examples.
If you are running VENUS 6, then there is embedded collision control between all moving elements of a VANTAGE, which include both arms and the track gripper. This makes it simple to manage simultaneous movements without having to manage space concerns and collision possibilities on your own, as embedded VENUS components will manage this automatically. This collision avoidance system will automatically queue any arm or track gripper movements which may have competing space requirements over the duration of runtime, and move any obstacles out of the way when it’s time for them to complete their command.
If your system is a 2.0 meter, having a track gripper actually makes dual arm systems easier to handle as the arms will always have room to evade the spatial motion requirements of the track gripper, whether they need to buddy up and both go to the right or left end of the deck, or if they need to split and send arm 1 to the left and arm 2 to the right. If your only transport solution was a lone IPG or QCG, there will be areas of the deck in which labware transport will be inaccessible in a dual arm workspace environment. This is especially key if you have an entry exit module on the far right of the deck
There are additional considerations to keep in mind for this type of upgrade based on how many 5mL channels are needed. If you only need 2-4 channels, then you could opt for a ‘skinny’ arm where channels only mount on a single side of a gantry. In this case you leave more real estate for parallel actions and evasions, but the tradeoff is that the raster for 5mL channels doubles from 18mm to 36mm. Your existing arm is likely an interleaved modular arm, where 1mL channels mount to LHS and RHS rail systems on the arm, alternating between each channel. If you need the tightest possible raster then you would need an additional standard (interleaved) arm which will occupy more space.
Depending on the number of channels on your current arm, you also reserve the option to add 5mL channels to the existing arm. This removes the requirement for a new arm, but does impact random access for channels and of course takes away parallel control on two regions of the deck which don’t overlap.
Hope this helps and feel free to follow up with additional questions. Thanks.
-Nick
can each arm still fit a mph + span? so can you add 96 & 384 MPH + 2x span to the system for example?
Yes, you can have a dual arm system with both arms equipped with either a MPH 384 or 96. There are currently some restrictions to be aware of, as VENUS does not yet support dual arm configurations which have duplicate channel/tool types on both arms.
For example, if arm 1 has an IPG, 1mL channels and a MPH96, then these options would not be available for arm 2. The second arm could have a MPH384, 5mL channels, twister channels etc, but the configurations would need to be mutually exclusive. This restriction will be lifted in a future release, but I don’t have a solid timeline for when exactly that will be.
Bear in mind that the addition of an MPH to an arm effectually increases its width and spatial requirements. Due to the restrictions outlined above and earlier in the thread, this could make labware transport a hassle if the VANTAGE doesn’t have a track gripper.
For such configurations, the new fluid motion arm and X-channel design will help alleviate these spatial restrictions, as the channels and Y motion system of the arm were redesigned to allow for 9mm raster on a single gantry, instead of requiring interleaved channels on two different sides. This significantly reduces the with of the arm - while still supporting MPH - while also increasing deck access on the right and left depending on the tool.
Currently fluid motion arms only support 1mL channels (X1), MPH and IPG, but more tools are coming. If having multiple MPH on a single system would be something you want to consider, I might hold off for a little but until there are more tools available for FM and the above VENUS restrictions are lifted.
Hope this helps! Thanks.
-Nick
