Rotating Container Picking for Tilted Pipet Wall Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cell-picking devices face issues where the pipet tip, when tilted to avoid interference with microscope components, cannot sample cells near the container's circumferential wall, creating an unsampleable area.
Innovation Solution
A picking device with a placement table that rotates about an orthogonal axis, combined with a sampling tool moving mechanism, allows the pipet tip to be inserted in a tilted posture while avoiding unsampleable areas by rotating the container.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the pipet tip is tilted to avoid interference with microscope components, then interference with microscope components is avoided, but an unsampleable area occurs near the circumferential wall of the container
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces rotation around the vertical axis as an additional degree of freedom to the sampling system. By rotating the container horizontally while maintaining the tilted posture of the pipet tip, the system can access cells near the circumferential wall that would otherwise be unreachable, thus expanding the sampling coverage area without increasing vertical interference with microscope components.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention makes the container rotation dynamic and adjustable during the sampling process. The container can be rotated to different angular positions to bring different regions (including areas near the circumferential wall) into the sampling zone, allowing flexible adaptation to various sampling requirements while maintaining the tilted pipet tip configuration.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the pipet tip is inserted in a tilted posture, then interference with microscope components is avoided, but the tip end cannot be positioned in certain areas of the container
Solution Approach 1:
The invention adds horizontal rotation capability to the positioning system. Instead of relying solely on vertical tilting and horizontal translation to position the pipet tip, the system now incorporates rotational movement of the container around the vertical axis, providing an additional dimension for positioning flexibility and enabling access to previously unreachable areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The container is rotated in advance to bring the target area (including areas near the circumferential wall) into the optimal sampling position before the pipet tip insertion begins. This preliminary rotation action ensures that the tilted pipet tip can accurately reach the desired location without interference with microscope components.
Data Source
AI summary
In a picking device configured to insert a pipet tip or similar sampling tool in a tilted posture into a container and to sample a sampling target from the same container, a picking device is provided which can avoid the situation in which an area from which the sampling target cannot be sampled occurs within the container. The picking device includes: a placement table having a placement surface on which a container is to be placed; a placement table rotation mechanism configured to rotate the placement table about a rotation axis which is a virtual axis orthogonal to the placement surface and passing through the center of the placement surface; a rod-shaped or tube-shaped sampling tool having a tip end configured to be inserted into the container, in a tilted posture to the rotation axis; and a sampling tool moving mechanism configured to move the sampling tool.