Mechanical & Materials Engineering, Department of
ORCID IDs
Jan Durrer http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5367-180X
Prajwal Agrawal http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2847-7885
Stephan C. F. Neuhauss http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9615-480X
Document Type
Article
Date of this Version
2022
Citation
Nature Communications ( 2022) 13:6370
doi:10.1038/s41467-022-34167-y
Abstract
Liquid manipulation is the foundation of most laboratory processes. For macroscale liquid handling, both do-it-yourself and commercial robotic systems are available; however, for microscale, reagents are expensive and sample preparation is difficult. Over the last decade, lab-on-a-chip (LOC) systems have come to serve for microscale liquid manipulation; however, lacking automation andmulti-functionality. Despite their potential synergies, each has grown separately and no suitable interface yet exists to link macro-level robotics with micro-level LOC or microfluidic devices. Here, we present a robot-assisted acoustofluidic end effector (RAEE) system, comprising a robotic arm and an acoustofluidic end effector, that combines robotics and microfluidic functionalities.We further carried out fluid pumping, particle and zebrafish embryo trapping, and mobile mixing of complex viscous liquids. Finally, we pre-programmed the RAEE to perform automatedmixing of viscous liquids in well plates, illustrating its versatility for the automatic execution of chemical processes.
Included in
Mechanics of Materials Commons, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Commons, Other Engineering Science and Materials Commons, Other Mechanical Engineering Commons
Comments
Open Access
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