Multi-Robot Workflow Scheduling for Dynamic Lab Automation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing approaches to automating laboratory tasks and experiments with robotic equipment are limited in scalability, throughput, and flexibility, struggling to integrate multiple robotic devices and dynamically adjust workflows, especially in life sciences applications where complex liquid handling and sensitive material handling are involved.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for integrating and scheduling robotic workflows that allows users to define and automate tasks across multiple workcells, enabling the configuration of robotic devices, operations, and dynamic path resolution, with a user-friendly interface for monitoring and modifying processes in real-time, applicable to both life sciences and non-life sciences applications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If existing approaches are used to automate single workcell or single robot, then automation of specific task is achieved, but scalability is limited and integration of multiple devices is difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a universal robotic workflow management platform that can orchestrate multiple different robot types and workcells through a common interface. The workflow engine is designed to be device-agnostic, allowing the same automation framework to manage diverse robotic equipment across different workcells, thereby achieving scalability while maintaining automation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system divides the automation architecture into independent modular components: individual workcells, separate robot controllers, and a central workflow management layer. This segmentation allows each component to be developed, deployed, and scaled independently while maintaining overall system integration through standardized communication protocols.
2Extent of automation
If fixed transportation paths are used for automated workflows, then automation is achieved, but dynamic path adjustment and reprioritization are not supported
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic path planning capabilities where transportation routes between workcells can be adjusted in real-time based on current system state, priorities, and constraints. The workflow engine continuously optimizes path assignments and can reprioritize tasks dynamically, allowing the automation system to adapt to changing conditions while maintaining overall workflow automation.
3Productivity
If multiple robotic devices are integrated for complex workflows, then throughput capability is improved, but setup process becomes difficult and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary configuration and validation of multi-robot workflows through simulation capabilities before actual deployment. The workflow engine allows users to define, validate, and optimize complex multi-device processes in a virtual environment, identifying potential conflicts and bottlenecks before physical implementation, thereby reducing setup time and complexity while enabling high throughput operations.
4Productivity
If robotic equipment is pooled and processes are interleaved, then resource utilization is improved, but coordination and scheduling complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a central workflow management engine as an intermediary layer between multiple robotic devices and their control systems. This mediator handles the complex coordination and scheduling of pooled robotic resources, managing task allocation, collision avoidance, and resource contention without requiring complex point-to-point coordination between individual robots, thereby enabling high resource utilization while controlling coordination complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An approach for fully automating the use of robotic devices in a laboratory workflow includes defining sequences for automating tasks and equipment involved in such a workflow, and calculating a path for each sequence that resolves get, handoff, and placement procedures. The approach develops a schedule that executes resolved pathways in and between each device. The approach is provided with an easy-to-use interface, in which a user drags and drops devices to automatically configure them, defines operations to be performed by these devices, and then runs the laboratory workflow. The interface also provides the ability to monitor progress of the workflow, and make modifications and adjustments as needed.