WO2022089869A1

WO2022089869A1 - Automated storage device for storing laboratory objects

Info

Publication number: WO2022089869A1
Application number: PCT/EP2021/076945
Authority: WO
Inventors: Cosmas Malin
Original assignee: Liconic Ag
Priority date: 2020-10-28
Filing date: 2021-09-30
Publication date: 2022-05-05
Also published as: EP4214143A1

Abstract

An automated device for storing a plurality of laboratory objects (20) comprises an access robot (30) for accessing the objects in storage locations (20) of a storage chamber (12). The access robot (30) has a carriage (32) that can be displaced horizontally and/or vertically in storage chamber (10). An object carrier (42) for accessing the storage locations (20) is arranged in the carriage. A camera (52) is located in the carriage (32) for viewing the storage locations (20) and the object carrier (42). The camera (52) pivots with the object carrier (42) and can be used to monitor the device and/or to adjust offsets stored in the control unit (66) of the device.

Description

Automated storage device for storing laboratory objects

Technical Field

The invention relates to an automated storage device for storing a plurality of laboratory obj ects , such as an incubator or a cryogenic storage device .

It also relates to a method for operating such a device .

Background Art

WO 02 /059251 describes various embodiments of automated storage devices . They comprise a chamber and a plurality of storage locations in the chamber . An access robot located in the chamber allows to access the storage locations in automated manner .

Disclosure of the Invention

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to make the operation of such storage devices more efficient .

This problem is solved by the device and method of the independent claims .

Accordingly, the automated storage device of the present invention is adapted to store a plurality of laboratory obj ects , such as tube racks or microtiter plates , and it comprises at least the following parts :

- A storage chamber : This is the chamber where the laboratory obj ects are stored . The device can comprise one or more such chambers . Advantageously, the chamber is temperature-controlled for maintaining the obj ects at one or more desired storage temperatures .

- A control unit : The control unit may be adapted to control the operations of the device . - A plurality of object storage locations arranged in the chamber: Each of these locations may be adapted and structured to receive at least one, in particular exactly one, laboratory object. The storage locations are located beside and above each other, i.e. there are several storage locations arranged beside each other and there are several storage locations arranged above each other for forming a three-dimensional storage space.

- An access robot: This robot may be structured to access the storage locations for inserting objects therein or for removing objects therefrom. It is located in the chamber and is advantageously adapted to move objects between the storage locations and an external door of the chamber. The access robot in turn comprises a horizontally and/or vertically displaceable carriage and a carriage displacement device coupled to the carriage. This allows to bring the carriage into positions close to the storage locations. The carriage comprises at least the following parts:

A) An object carrier: The object carrier is movable in respect to a center of mass of the carriage and may be adapted to pick up and/or seize an object. It may e.g. comprise a suitable shovel or gripper to do so.

B) A carrier displacement device: The carrier displacement device is coupled to the object carrier and is adapted and structured to operate the object carrier. It may e.g. be mounted to the carrier or, advantageously, to other parts of the carriage that do not move with the carrier.

The automated device further comprises a camera mounted to the carriage.

The camera allows to monitor the storage locations and/or the operation of the object carrier.

Advantageously, the object carrier is pivotal in respect to the carriage, and the camera is coupled to the object carrier and pivots with the object carrier. In other words, there is a positive coupling between the pivoting motions of the object carrier and the camera. Hence, the camera automatically follows the pivotal movements of the object carrier.

Advantageously, the object carrier and the camera are pivotal about a common vertical pivot axis, e.g. to access horizontally adjacent storage locations.

The device may further comprise a carrier support pivotally mounted on the carriage, which forms a common support for the camera and the object carrier, i.e. both, the camera and the object carrier, can be mounted to the carrier support for performing common pivoting movements.

Advantageously, there is a pivoting drive coupled to the camera and the object carrier for commonly pivoting them. If there is a carrier support as mentioned above, the pivoting drive can be coupled to this carrier support .

The object carrier may be horizontally extendible in respect to the carriage along an extension direction. This allows the object carrier to reach into the storage locations.

In this case, the horizontal component of the central optical axis of the camera (e.g. of the axis corresponding to the camera' s center of view) is parallel to the extension direction. In other words, when seen from vertically above, the central optical axis of the camera is parallel to the extension direction of the object carrier. Hence, the camera "looks" into the direction of extension, but its optical axis may be titled up or down.

The control unit of the present device may be adapted to control the carriage and to control the horizontal, vertical, and/or pivotal movement of the object carrier. The control unit may have an offset memory storing at least one "offset value". In that case, for accessing a given storage location, the control unit is adapted to perform at least the following operations (in two separate steps or in a single, combined step) : - Moving the carriage to a position at the given storage location; and

- Correcting the movement of the obj ect carrier by the offset value .

This software-controlled offset allows a user or the control unit to use the camera for detecting an undesired offset between the camera and the storage location and to correct it .

The device may further comprise a display device for displaying images from the camera . Alternatively or in addition thereto , it may comprise a network interface adapted to transfer images from the camera to a remote device . Both these options allow a user to view the images of the camera , e . g . to inspect the functioning of the device and/or the state of the storage chamber without having to enter the device .

Advantageously, the camera is positioned to view at least part of a given storage location and at least part of the obj ect carrier while the obj ect carrier accesses the given storage location . This e . g . allows to monitor the positioning of the obj ect carrier in respect to the storage location and/or the positioning of the obj ect carrier in respect to the laboratory obj ect in the storage location .

The device may comprise a light source mounted to the carriage to support the recording images even if the chamber is dark . If the camera is pivotal , the light source is advantageously pivotal together with the camera .

The invention also relates to a method for operating such a device . This method comprises the step of using the camera to view at least part of a storage location the obj ect carrier is to interact with . This allows to monitor the state of the storage location and/or the relation of the obj ect carrier in respect to the storage location or obj ect . In particular, the method comprises the step of using the camera to view at least part of a storage location and at least part of the object carrier at the same time. This allows to verify and/or to correct their mutual orientation.

Advantageously, the method comprises the step of using the camera to correct an offset between the storage location and the object carrier. This allows to align these components without having physical access to the storage chamber.

The method may also comprise the step of using the camera to detect the presence and/or the state of a laboratory object in the storage location.

The control unit of the device may be adapted and structured, e.g. using suitable programming, to carry out this method.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a schematic, sectional view of a storage device along line I-I of Fig. 2,

Fig. 2 is a sectional view along line II-II of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of part of the carriage and part of a storage rack,

Fig. 4 is a more detailed view of some components of the device, and

Fig. 5 is a view of the components of Fig. 4 from below including the topmost parts of two storage racks . Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

Device

Figs. 1 - 3 show an automated device for storing a plurality of laboratory objects, with one such object shown in Fig. 2, by way of example, under reference number 10. The device may e.g. be an incubator or a low-temperature storage device, and the laboratory objects 10 may e.g. be microtiter plates or tube racks.

The device comprises a storage chamber 12, which may e.g. be enclosed by insulated walls 14. In the present embodiment, the device has a machine-controlled door 16 as well as a user-operatable door 18.

Chamber 12 contains a storage structure forming a plurality of object storage locations 20 arranged beside and above each other.

In the present embodiment, the storage locations 20 are formed by storage racks 22, with each storage rack 22 forming several storage locations 20 above each other. The storage racks may e.g. be structured as shown in Figs. 2a, 2b of WO 02/059251.

The two storage racks 22 are arranged side- by-side in V-shaped configuration, such that their access directions 26 intersect on a vertical axis 28. In this context, the term "access direction" designates the direction along which objects are inserted into and removed from the storage locations 20.

The device comprises an access robot 30 located in chamber 12. Access robot 30 is structured and adapted to access the storage locations 20 for inserting laboratory objects therein and for removing the laboratory objects therefrom. It may further be adapted to transfer laboratory objects 10 between door 16 and the storage locations 20.

Access robot 30 comprises a carriage 32, which is, in the shown embodiment, displaceable along a vertical direction. For example, it may be mounted to a vertical guide rail 34.

Advantageously, vertical guide rail 34 is located stationary in respect to the storage locations 20. Carriage 32 is therefore not freely displaceable in respect to the storage locations 20, i.e. it is not a selfdriving robot. Still, the present technique of using a camera for correcting the position of the components of carriage 32 has been found to improve the reliability of the device.

A carriage displacement device 36 may e.g. comprise a cogwheel 38 meshing with a vertical gear rack 40.

An object carrier 42 is arranged on carriage 32 and forms part thereof. It is adapted and structured to handle the laboratory objects 10 for inserting them into or removing them from the storage locations 20. As can be seen, it is horizontally displaceable into the storage racks 22.

Object carrier 42 is horizontally extendable along an extension direction 43 from a retracted position (shown in solid lines in Fig. 3) to an extended position (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3) , with the extended position reaching into the respective storage location 20. It may e.g. be designed (as shown) for scooping objects up from below, or it may e.g. be formed as a gripper for gripping the objects from their sides.

Object carrier 42 is non-pivotally mounted to a carrier support 44 of carriage 32 and is horizontally extendable in respect to carrier support 44 by means of a suitable extension drive 46 (Fig. 1) .

Object carrier 42 is also pivotal in respect to carriage 42 around a vertical pivot axis 28, corresponding to the vertical axis 28 mentioned above.

To provide such a pivotal movement, in present embodiment, carrier support 44 is connected to a holder 47 of carriage 32 via a pivoting mount 48 (Fig. 3) . A pivoting drive 50 (Fig. 1) is provided for pivoting carrier support 44 and thereby object carrier 42 in respect to the rest of carriage 32.

Holder 47 is mounted to vertical guide rail 34. Displacement drive 36 is mounted to holder 47.

A camera 52 is mounted to carriage 32. It is positioned to view at least part of the storage location 20 that object carrier 42 is about to engage.

In the embodiment shown, a camera holder 54 connects camera 52 to support 44. Hence, camera 52 is pivotal around pivot axis 28 together with object carrier 42, but object carrier 42 can be horizontally extended without moving camera 52.

In particular, camera 52 and carrier support 42 are non-pivotally mounted to support 44 in the sense that, when support 44 rotates, camera 52 and carrier support 42 rotate together with support 44.

In the embodiment shown, camera 52 is located higher than object carrier 42. The optical axis 56 of camera 52 is directed forward (wherein extension direction 43 defines the forward direction) as well as downward .

Advantageously, the present device further comprises a light source 58 illuminating the field of view of camera 52. Light source 58 may e.g. be mounted to camera 52.

Fig. 2 further shows a control unit 60, which may be integrated into the housing of the present device or be formed by a suitably connected remote unit. It e.g. comprises a CPU 62 operating under the control of program instructions and is adapted to control at least access robot 30.

Control unit 60is also connected to camera 52.

The image of camera 52 can be displayed on a display device 64. In one embodiment, display device 64 forms part of the present device.

In another embodiment, display device 64 may be a unit separate from the present device and connected to the present device via a wireless or wire-bound network. In that case, control unit 60 advantageously comprises a network interface 66, such as a TCP/IP interface, adapted to transfer the images from camera 52 to a remote device.

Access robot

Figs. 4 and 5 show a specific embodiment of access robot 30, with the reference numbers corresponding to those of the previous embodiment.

In particular, the embodiment shows camera 52 mounted to carrier support 44 by means of camera holder 54.

When object carrier 42 is in its retracted position, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, camera 52 may be located vertically above it.

When object carrier 42 is in its extended position, camera 52 may be located vertically above it or behind it.

Operation

As mentioned, camera 52 can be used to view at least part of a storage location 20 the object carrier 52 is to interact with.

Camera 52 has various uses, which can be applied alone or in arbitrary combination. Some of them are listed in the following.

In one embodiment, the images of camera 52 may be used to monitor the status of the present device. For example, the images can be used to detect or interpret malfunctions. Camera 52 may also be used to detect if a given storage location 20 is empty or occupied, i.e. it can be used to detect the presence of a laboratory object 10 in the storage location.

Camera 52 may also be used to detect the state of a laboratory object 10 in a storage location 20, e.g. if it has been properly inserted or if its content fulfills any given criterion.

Camera 52 may also be used to view at least part of a storage location 20 and at least part of the object carrier 42 at the same time, i.e. in the same picture. This allows to e.g. determine the mutual positions of these parts.

In particular, the camera can be used to correct an offset between the storage locations 20 and object carrier 32.

Such a correction may be carried out automatically by control unit 60 or manually.

In the latter case, an operator of the device may manually adjust the position of object carrier 32 in respect to a storage location 20 by operating user controls 68 (Fig. 2) , causing control unit 60 to move carriage 32 horizontally and/or vertically and/or to pivot object carrier 42 about pivot axis 28 in order to seek a proper alignment.

Such a manual correction can be recorded by control unit 60 and be stored in an offset memory 70 as mentioned above. In this way, the offset value can be automatically applied for future positioning of object carrier 42 at a desired storage location 20.

For example, the desired position can be calculated as the sum of a generic position (which is, within some accuracy, valid for all storage devices of a given type) and of the offset value (which accounts for tolerances in a given storage device) . Notes

Advantageously, carriage 32 is displaceable at least in vertical direction as shown above.

In order to access horizontally adjacent storage locations, the carriage may be horizontally displaceable and/or the object carrier may be pivotal about a vertical axis or horizontally displaceable within carriage 32.

In the example above, the device is an incubator or low-temperature storage device (i.e. a cryogenic storage device) . For this purpose, it comprises, as shown in Fig. 2, a temperature control unit 74, which can e.g. include one or more heat pumps or heaters and/or an atmosphere control.

The present device may also be some other device without temperature control or atmosphere control adapted to store laboratory objects for a short or extended duration of time.

In the example above, the storage locations 20 were formed by two storage racks 22 arranged in a V- shaped configuration. The storage locations 20 may, however, also be formed in different manner, e.g. by providing an aisle-based object store, such as e.g. described in EP3327391, EP1972874 (Figs. 9, 10, 12) , or WO 2006/074569. The storage locations 20 may e.g. also be arranged on a carousel, such as described in WO 02/059251.

In the embodiments above, carriage 32 is displaceable vertically in chamber 12 In addition thereto or alternatively thereto, it may also be displaceable horizontally. In particular, it may be displaceable horizontally as well as vertically, e.g. for accessing an aislebased object store as mentioned above.

Fig. 3 shows the viewing aperture 72 of camera 52. This aperture is advantageously chosen such that a desired part of a storage location is visible at the normal operating position of carriage 32 positioned in front of said storage location. The aperture angle a is advantageously between 30° and 50°.

Camera 52 typically comprises an objective 74 for imaging a desired area. Objective 74 may be a variable objective 74, which can e.g. be used to select the aperture, zoom, and/or focus position of camera 52.

Advantageously, the optical axis 56 of camera 52 is vertically tilted "towards" the extension direction 43. In other words, when camera 52 is mounted above object carrier 42, it looks (non-vertically) downwards. If camera 52 is mounted below object carrier 42, it looks (non-vertically) upwards. In both cases, when seen from the direction perpendicular to optical axis 56 and perpendicular to extension direction 43 (as shown in Fig. 3) , the angle P between optical axis 56 and extension direction 43 is advantageously smaller than 45°, in particular smaller than 30°.

Further, since the camera is tilted "towards" the extension direction, the angle is larger than 0°. In particular, it is larger than 5°.

While there are shown and described presently preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. An automated device for storing a plurality of laboratory objects, said device comprising

- a storage chamber (12) ,

- a control unit (60) ,

- a plurality of object storage locations (20) arranged in said chamber (12) beside and above each other,

- an access robot (30) located in said chamber, wherein said access robot (30) comprises a horizontally and/or vertically displaceable carriage (32) and a carriage displacement device (36) coupled to said carriage (32) , wherein said carriage (32) comprises an object carrier (42) and a carrier displacement device (46) coupled to said object carrier (42) , wherein said automated device further comprises a camera (52) mounted to said carriage (32) .

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said object carrier (42) is pivotal in respect to said carriage (32) , and wherein said camera (52) is coupled to the object carrier (42) and pivots with the object carrier (42) ,

3. The device of claim 2 wherein the object carrier (42) and the camera (52) are pivotal about a vertical pivot axis (28) .

4. The device of any of the claims 2 or 3 further comprising a carrier support (44) pivotally mounted on the carriage (32) , wherein said camera (52) and said object carrier (42) are mounted to said carrier support (44 ) .

5. The device of claim 4 wherein said object carrier (42) and said camera (52) are non-pivotally mounted to said carrier support (44) .

6. The device of any of the claims 4 or 5 further comprising an extension drive (46) , wherein the object carrier (42) is horizontally extendable in respect to the carrier support (44) by means of the extension drive (4 ) .

7. The device of claim 6 further comprising a camera holder (54) , wherein the camera (52) is mounted by means of the camera holder (54) to the carrier support (44) , wherein the camera (52) is pivotal together with the object carrier (42) , but the object carrier (42) is horizontally extendible without moving the camera (52) .

8. The device of any of the preceding claims wherein the object carrier (42) is horizontally extendible in respect to the carriage (32) along an extension direction (43) .

9. The device of claim 8 wherein a horizontal component of a central optical axis (56) of the camera (52) is parallel to the extension direction (43) .

10. The device of any of the claims 8 or 9 wherein a central optical axis (56) of the camera is vertically tilted towards the extension direction (43) .

11. The device of claim 10 wherein an angle P between the optical axis (56) and the extension direction (43) is smaller than 45°, in particular smaller than 30°.

12. The device of claim 11 wherein the angle is larger than 5°. 15

13. The device of any of the preceding claims wherein the control unit (60) is adapted to control the carriage (32) and to control a horizontal, vertical, and/or pivotal movement of the object carrier (42) , wherein said control unit (60) comprises an offset memory (70) storing an offset value, wherein, for accessing a given storage location (20) , said control unit (60) is adapted to moving the carriage (32) to a position at the given storage location (20) , and correcting the movement of the object carrier (42) by the offset value.

14. The device of any of the preceding claims further comprising a display device (64) for displaying images from the camera (52) .

15. The device of any of the preceding claims further comprising a network interface (66) adapted to transfer images from the camera (52) to a remote device.

16. The device of any of the preceding claims wherein the camera (52) is positioned to view at least part of a storage location (20) while the object carrier (42) accesses said storage location (20) .

17. The device of any of the preceding claims further comprising a light source (58) mounted to said carriage (32) , and in particular wherein said light source (58) is pivotal with said camera (52) .

18. The device of any of the preceding claims further comprising one or more storage racks (22) , with each storage rack (22) forming several storage locations (20) above each other, and a vertical guide rail (34) , 16 wherein the carriage (32) is vertically dis- placeably mounted to the guide rail (34) and wherein the object carrier (42) is horizontally displaceable into the storage racks (22) .

19. A method for operating the device of any of the preceding claims comprising the step of using the camera (52) to view at least part of a storage location (20) the object carrier (42) is to interact with.

20. The method of claim 19 comprising the step of using the camera (52) to view at least part of a storage location (20) and at least part of the object carrier (42) at the same time.

21. The method of any of the claims 19 or 20 comprising the step of using the camera (52) to correct an offset between the storage location (20) and the object carrier (42) .

22. The method of any of the claims 19 to 21 comprising the step of using the camera (52) to detect a presence and/or a state of a laboratory object in the storage location (20) .

23. The device of any of the claims 1 to 18 wherein said control unit (60) is adapted and structured to carry out the method of any of the claims 19 to 22.