Help me design a new screening workstation - robotics, scheduler, acoustic dispenser and more

Robotic Arms
1

Hi everyone,

I hope this lands in the correct category of the board. If not please relocate it.

I recently was asked to design a screening platform for one of our assays.
I do have quite some experience with liquid handlers and such and tried to soak up everything there is about robotics, schedulers and automation but came to a point where I could really need more input from you guys having the full experience already.

The workflow is as simple as it gets for an assay:

  • take compound plates
  • spin down and peel
  • prepare single dose or dose reponse assay ready plates using an Echo dispenser
  • add protein of interest with a dispenser eg MD, Certus
  • seal
  • shake
  • incubate RT
  • read plate

I would prefer to not need to program/code anything (unless you say this is inevitable) and would love a good scheduling software.

I had a look at Beckmans Access Workstation with TEMPO scheduler (looks dated - hasn’t evolved much since I was in touch with Labcyte back then, no user levels, not a real scheduler but this wouldn’t be a huge deal for us with just one assay anyway, may have the edge with controlling the Echo?).

HighRes Biosolutions with Cellario (looks good, has user levels, good scheduling functions and plenty of installations everywhere around the globe but that comes at a price) and also

Biosero with Green Button Go (I barely find infos, images, videos about installation on the web and the only time I had contact with Bico was back then when a super agressive sales guy wanted to sell me an IDOT but I’d be willing to give them another chance so what are they about?).

And of course there is Analytik Jena, Automata, Thermo FS with Momentum and many more.

I think any robot like a PF400 or the newer C3 from brooks will do. We would need 1 - 2 tables as well but that is it.

Any thoughts on this? Money of course is an issue. Prices for the Echo have been out of control recently and unfortunately we can’t use any of the existing ones for this setup.

I’d love to have some input from you guys working with any of those integrators already. I really appreciate it.

Cheers,
O.

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2

Both HighRes and Biosero will get the job done. I prefer Cellario over GBG, but that’s purely personal opinion. I believe HighRes will be more expensive, but they might surprise you.

I would encourage you to also reach out to TekMatic, they will probably be the cheapest option, but the cost:quality ratio will be pretty good.

Sounds like if you need to purchase a new Echo it will be far more expensive than any other component, I doubt there’s any better instrument than an Echo for dispensing compounds in DMSO though.

3

also sounds like you may need a LIMS interface for reading barcodes of compound plates and determining what concentration to plate for your dose response, unless this is always a fixed dilution series…

4

Cellario and GBG are probably the most feature-rich schedulers around. There are many others that might be okay, but have limitations. I think the old Labcyte Access systems are fine for making assay ready plates (dispensed compounds in otherwise empty plates as a product), but I would look elsewhere if you want to also perform your assay.

HighRes manufacturers some devices. Biosero is entirely 3rd party, so plate hotels, centrifuges, incubators, etc, all have to be sourced elsewhere and that’s where I saw the difference in price diminish.

I second Tekmatic as a budget option. Those are great people and they will be very cost competitive. Automata, Copia Scientific, Lab Services, and Bionex all do custom integrations as well.

I’ve had good luck buying used devices from Copia - things like sealers, peelers, dispensers, labelers. I’m a fan of BMG plate readers. They are reliable, priced reasonably, and service has been top-notch.

5

I have experience with another budget solution, and that is PAA. I have quite mixed feeling about it - some things work great, some were a huge issue, but maybe we were just unlucky.
I generally like their Overlord software and KX2 robot. KX2 is not as elegant as PF400, but it gets the job done, it has plate sensor and barcode reader on the gripper allowing for some very fexible use. Pretty easy to teach and program too.
Overlord is also very flexible, sometimes you need C# scripts to achieve what you need, but I was able to get away with repurposing scripts from PAA and ChatGPT just fine.
Our case included Echo as well and the Overlord driver for it was very solid, providing all necessary functionality. The guy who used it for screening didnt need any LIMS, because you can give all the info to the Echo, which is then able to ask for plates through the driver, and the KX2 was bringing them in based on barcodes.
The hardware build was catastropic, with drawer and doors breaking, bad gas piping, issues with ventilation, but we fixed that ourselves over time.
I would also stay away from SRUN, the newer scheduler running on top of Overlord, or at least its current version. It can do some paralelisation and should be more user friendly, but it was very unreliable in our experience (freezing), and has terrible error handling.
Another problem with SRUN is that it is very linear in its logic, basically plate in → plate out. We just didnt find a way how to use it with Echo, where you need to handle many source plates and many destination plates in random order.

EDIT: I just found out that Tekmatic others mentioned is PAA distributor and uses Overlord

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6

We use Momentum and Tempo. Momentum to run the screens and Tempo to prepare the plates.
The Tempo software, although looking outdated (Office 2003 vibes) has been very reliable and provided the flexibility we needed. We usually run large screens, so we prepare the plates a few days in advance.

With the Momentum platform we have mixed feelings. It has been quite reliable for the most part and has a very extensive drivers library. But we find the user experience and programming flexibility could vastly improve. Think of lots of clicks to do certain things, complex way to use variables, file handling and other logics and abstractions, inability to change variable names in their declaration, and very sparce documentation.

The other aspect to consider I would add, is the maintenance costs.

7

Have you looked into Automata? I don’t know if they have a driver for the echo. But another alternative to the echo is the I.DOT from dispendix.

8

We’ve used Green Button Go in the past and like it for its error handling and driver support. Licenses seem to be getting more and more expensive, though.

On a related note - we are changing up our automation right now and have a few things for sale if you are interested:

  • Brooks / Preciseflex PF400: 750 mm, extended reach (730 mm reach), with 2 m linear rail, with barcode scanner, configured for Green Button Go
  • Plate Hotels: Peak Robotics PAA Plate Hotel Rack, 22 plate capacity portrait grip model HR22SP
  • BioShake 3000 ELM

I’m still in the process of listing some things but feel free to reach out if you are interested!

9

I think only in San Francisco will you see a PF400 on Craigslist. :wink:

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10

We’ve found some as low as $1000 on Craigslist.

Long story. :joy:

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11

Hi O,

I’m with HighRes and would be happy to connect with you and discuss the wide range of options available - we do have entry level options that align very well with your use case - e.g. Laboratory Sample Management - Highres Biosolutions

And worth noting we also have our own partnership with Tekmatic - I can describe our mutual solutions.

Send me a DM and we can connect,

Cheers,
Jon
jmole@highresbio.com

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12

Hi O,

My name’s Calum and I work for Automata.

Sounds like a really interesting project you are undertaking. Keen to connect with you also to discuss Automata’s open integrated platform alongside our LINQ Cloud software.

Feel free to reach out to me on calum@automata.tech so we can kick-start our discussion.

Best, Calum.

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13

Hi Orange - Nate Muldowney with Tek Matic here. I see we have been mentioned a few times. nate@tekmatic.com if you would like to chat. Thanks

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