Robox – Sample Preparation System

Task

The new Robox is a fully automated sample preparation system for liquid scintillation with an integrated oxidizer. It is especially developed to prepare a high number of samples with an outstanding precision and accuracy.

Combustion of C-14 or H-3 labelled biological samples or inorganic materials has proven to be superior for efficient and reproducible scintillation counting. However, as each sample needs to be handled individually this technology is slow and time consuming. For high throughput, automation is a must. Our new automatic system has been designed to process 120 samples per day automatically on a unique robotic system.

Solution

The sample material arrives pre‑weighed on barcode-labelled sample boats and is delivered by the robot to the combustion furnace. The C-14 or H-3 samples are collected together with scintillation cocktail in scintillation vials, capped and then placed in racks from the scintillation counter. Barcode labelling of the samples and receiving scintillation vials allows complete tracking of the sample material. The samples are processed in a catalytic oxidizer at a high temperature with a controlled Oxygen flow. The efficiency of the combustion process is constantly monitored by an integrated scintillation counter.

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