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Robotic laboratory automation platform based on mobile agents for clinical chemistry

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Abstract

In this research, we propose an innovative robotic platform for clinical tests suitable for small- or medium-sized laboratories using small-sized multiple mobile robots and a robotic arm. The robotic platform, called “BioRobot Platform,” allows us to run a test process more flexibly than traditional sequential test procedures using conveyor belts by simultaneously conducting various clinical tests through multiple mobile agents. It also improves productivity (the number of tests conducted in time) by having controllable throughput according to amount of tests. Moreover, to operate the entire hardware and several mobile agents concurrently, the various algorithms related to robotic technologies such as motion control, localization, and path planning algorithm are applied to the platform. To evaluate the performance of the BioRobot Platform, various control methods are implemented, which provides parallel processing and scalability. The feasibility of the BioRobot Platform with three mobile robotic agents is validated through preliminary experiments.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a Grant (Code R2016001) from Gyeonggi Technology Development Program funded by Gyeonggi Province, and Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (No. NRF-2016R1A6A3A11933722).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, ChunchunDong 300, Jangan-gu, Suwon, Kyungki-do, 440-746, Korea

    Won Suk You, Hyungpil Moon, Ja Choon Koo & Hyouk Ryeol Choi

  2. R&D (Research and development), Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, 130, Samsung-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, 16678, Korea

    Byung June Choi

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  1. Won Suk You
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  2. Byung June Choi
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  3. Hyungpil Moon
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  4. Ja Choon Koo
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  5. Hyouk Ryeol Choi
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Correspondence to Hyouk Ryeol Choi.

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You, W.S., Choi, B.J., Moon, H. et al. Robotic laboratory automation platform based on mobile agents for clinical chemistry. Intel Serv Robotics 10, 347–362 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11370-017-0233-x

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