Analysis of Measurement Process Design for a Dual-Arm Robot Using Graphical User Interface

Laboratory automation is a growing field due to its various advantages such as minimizing human effort, efficient utilization of time, standardization of processes and high repeatability. The dual-arm robot CSDA10F from Yaskawa is used to automate sample preparation processes for analytical measurements of various compounds in biological, environmental or industrial material samples. The analysis is performed using analytical measurement instruments such as liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) which also have to be integrated into the robotic system via an interface software. This entire system is equipped with a process control software using a graphical user interface enabling easy control and process development in a way to allow an optimal usage of the available resources. The combination of a flexible system design and the repeated operation of processes is a challenge in managing the required chemicals and labware. This study presents the various concepts for optimized process planning, process generation and execution using the dual-arm robot. These concepts have been implemented on a sample method to study the feasibility, advantages and effectiveness in an actual laboratory for bulk sample preparations. The performance of the robot has been quantitatively measured in comparison with lab output without the robot and the observations are recorded.