Beckman Coulter Introduces Integrated Industrial Robotics Solutions for Drug Discovery

Beckman Coulter, Inc. announces the availability of integrated Industrial Robotics Solutions for high-throughput pharmaceutical and biotech applications. The Motoman HP3JC Robot provides the transportation foundation for these robust systems. Advanced SAMI® Workstation EX Software provides features tailored to industrial applications while a safety enclosure protects both operator and sample and complies with ANSI/RIA R15.06-1999 standards.

Industrial Robotics Solutions are individually tailored to the application by the Beckman Coulter Integrated Solutions Team, which customises and optimises the software along with placement of devices, labware and transport tools. The powerful SAMI EX scheduling software tool facilitates assay design, providing ongoing checks and feedback to the developer, ensuring that the finished method is prevalidated. The software integrates all devices and liquid handlers and interleaves actions and plates for maximum throughput and efficient resource utilisation. Tools for 21 CFR Part 11 compliance are also included in SAMI EX.

The Motoman robot arm manufactured by Yaskawa Electric Company has a track record of long MTBF (mean time between failures) in high-workload applications and is the heart of the new Integrated Industrial Solutions. These custom-tailored solutions may incorporate Beckman Coulter liquid handlers, including the Biomek NXP, FXP, BioRAPTR FRD™ and PicoRAPTR™. A wide range of devices and readers can also be integrated into the solution, including Beckman Coulter’s DTX Series Multimode Detectors and new PARADIGM™ Detection Platform.

“A good number of pharmaceutical and biotech customers are graduating from using “islands of automation” to full process automation, which requires the integration of many devices at a high-throughput level,” explained Marc Goldstein, Ph.D., product platform manager for Beckman Coulter. “At the same time there is a higher emphasis on safety. Our new enclosure meets this need, while still providing easy access.”