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PlateCrane EX™ Robotic Arm Microplate Handler

Overview
Description
Specifications
Applications
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The PlateCrane EX Robotic Arm Microplate Handler offers unsurpassed ease and reliability for automating any automation-capable device for automatic analysis.

The PlateCrane EX Robotic Arm Microplate Handler is an affordable, flexible option for automating any plate handling task. Equipped with our SoftLinx™ software suite, it can be configured to serve one or multiple microplate-compatible instruments.
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Hudson PlateCrane Ex Robotic Arm Microplate Handler

Description

PlateCrane EX™ Robotic Arm Microplate Handler is optimized for handling labware in the “ANSI SLAS,” including microplates, reservoirs, and disposable tip racks.   PlateCrane is optimized for loading and unloading automated lab instruments, such as microplate readers, scanners and flow cytometers, microplate washers, robotic liquid handlers, barcode print & apply devices, colony pickers, automatable centrifuges, and reagent dispensers. The PlateCrane microplate stacker is heavily used in assay development, cell biology, bioassay validation, DNA quantification, PCR setup and cleanup, and medium-throughput assays.

The PlateCrane EX robotic arm features state-of-the-art controls and a new, rugged design. Never has lab automation been easier or more reliable. Interfaces are available to more than 150 microplate-based instruments, including virtually every reader, lab incubator, dispenser, and pipettor commonly used in laboratories today. It has a capacity of up to 450 microplates making it easy to configure a wide range of automation workcells.

The PlateCrane EX is supplied with Hudson’s SoftLinx™ laboratory automation scheduling software. SoftLinx provides scheduling capability and an easy-to-use icon-based drag-and-drop Method Editor.

The PlateCrane EX can be part of a more extensive microplate transportation system by increasing the number of available stacks or combining it with the LabLinx™ microplate track-based delivery system.

Specifications

Plate Capacity Up to 450 plates without lids or up to 375 plates with lids in up to 15 stacks of 30 unlidded or 25 lidded plates each, or additional storage capability with a variety of automated storage devices.
Plate Format Portrait & Landscape – (Rotary Gripper)
Plate Storage Device 2 removable stacks (expandable up to 15)
Housing Material Painted steel covering cast aluminum housing.
Gripper Material Black anodized aluminum; textured neoprene rubber inserts.
Arm Mechanism Ball bearing axis with high-speed screw rail; mechanical stops to prevent continuous rotation (345° maximum).
Rotary Travel 345° ¨
Horizontal Reach From center of vertical axis: 12″ – 18″ radius
Vertical Reach Maximum 22.75 in. from table, minimum 4.25 in. from table, total 18.0 in. vertical travel distance.
Size (H x W x D) 27 in. x 19 in. x 27 in.
Weight about 45 lbs.
Computer Interface RS-232 serial cable.

 

The PlateCrane EX provides walkaway automation for simple workcells with a single microplate instrument or complex workcells with several instruments, multiple processes, or even a complete assay. It comes with four axes of motion: tower rotation, vertical travel, a telescoping arm, and gripper rotation. It includes an optional EasyTeach teaching pendant for simply setting plate positions in your workcell and the revolutionary AutoTeach machine vision teaching system.

PlateCrane EX moves labware to and from removable stacks mounted on bases around the arm. These bases are modular, allowing flexibility in the configuration of stacks and surrounding instruments.

  • Adds microplate capacity to a single instrument to increase “walkaway” time.
  • Performs complete automated assays by linking multiple instruments with one or more PlateCrane EXs.
  • Moves plates with lids to and from stacks and can automatically remove the lid from the active plate.
  • Works with 96, 384 and 1536-well microplates, deep well plates, plates with lids, and tip racks.
  • Can be configured for on-demand additions of additional input plates for stat sample processing without any user interaction other than simply loading more plates.
  • Fits within standard laboratory hoods.
  • Provides random access to stacks with shelves for room temperature incubation and time-critical kinetic assays.

The PlateCrane EX is supplied with Hudson’s SoftLinx laboratory automation software. SoftLinx provides scheduling capability and an easy-to-use icon-based drag-and-drop Method Editor. SoftLinx users can access Hudson’s software interfaces for over 150 microplate-based instruments, including liquid handlers, pipettors, washers, readers, incubators, sealers, barcode labelers, and more.

Applications

Throughout the drug discovery industry, our PlateCrane instruments have been used to increase the efficiency of numerous High-Throughput Screens (HTS)  involving complex methods, such as loading Flow Cytometry instruments, FLIPR, Reporter, ELISA, and FRET assays. With its built-in plate gripper and onboard controller, PlateCrane pioneered the concept of a small, microplate robot serving multiple instruments, often from several different instrument manufacturers. PlateCrane Instruments give users the ability to use the best instruments available for the scientific task at hand within an easy-to-set-up benchtop workcell.

PlateCrane is also used to move microplates and filter plates in high throughput, automated DNA Plasmid Prep systems. Unlike systems offered by some plasmid prep kit manufacturers, our wide array of automated dispensers, shaker nests and automated vacuum nests make PlateCrane-based plasmid prep systems truly walkaway: with no need for human intervention from start to finish, with throughput as high as six 96-well plates (576 samples) per hour.

We also make private-labeled OEM PlateCrane Instruments for several instrument manufacturers who need a capable, reliable device dedicated to automatically loading and unloading their instruments, providing long “walkaway” capability to their instruments.

Documents & Videos

PlateCrane EX Robotic Arm Product Sheet
Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research: Reducing protein quantification bottlenecks by automating the Octet® HTX with a Hudson PlateCrane.

Accessories

Teaching Pendant – Allows user to manually direct the arm to positions that can then be saved in memory.
Teaching Plate – Specially -machined PVC plate that simulates the footprint of an SBS microplate, with a standard 12.5mm height. When used for teaching robot positions, the Teaching Plate serves as a standard gauge to allow the PlateCrane to auto-adjust to the exact height of actual plates when operating under SoftLinx control.
Universal Microplate Stack – Enables the loading of up to 30 standard-height microplates, or 9 deep-well plates per stack. Up to 15 stacks can be accessed by one PlateCrane.
Random-Access Microplate Stack – Enables the loading of up to 15 standard-height microplates, or 7 deep-well plates, while allowing the PlateCrane to retrieve/store individual plates in any order desired by the user. Ideal for kinetic assays or varying room-temperature incubations.
Stack Base – a platform that locks into the base of the PlateCrane and allows the user to mount up to 5 Universal Microplate Stacks, or 5 Random-Access Plate Stacks on each Stack Base.
Lid Nest – A specially-machined, robot accessible nest to hold an SBS-compatible microplate lid while the microplate is being processed in an instrument.
Worktables – Custom-built to meet the needs of any PlateCrane-based workcell. Frees up lab bench space. Comes with optional power-management, computer stand, utility entrance, safety enclosure and communication cable routing.
Control Computer – Supplied fully loaded with SoftLinx and all the plug-ins needed in the user’s workcell.
Barcode Scanner – Includes physical stand and communication cabling. Operates seamlessly within a SoftLinx-controlled robot system, enabling users to track and store plate data, including transmitting each plate’s barcode to any plate reader or other instrument that may require an ID for the plate.
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