Modular robot system automates research tasks

To the sorting machine:
The MAPLE-PRO robotic system from Flysorter automates the sorting of fruit flies for use in research laboratories. The animals are sucked in and sorted between the modules using a suction robot. Here, the company relies on modular automation components from igus®. The modular design of the robotic system enables a wide range of tasks to be carried out in fruit fly research: Behavioural tests, genetic studies, testing various drug compounds or pesticides for their effectiveness, collecting and separating freshly hatched flies before they mate and much more.

The fruit fly is one of the most popular model organisms for research into genetics, development, neuroscience, diseases, etc. due to its small size and ease of maintenance. Over 75% of human diseases with a genetic basis have an analogue in the fly alone. There are thousands of fly laboratories worldwide, yet much of the research work is painstaking and expensive manual labour. There is a great need to automate such manual work and save time and money in the process.
Flysorter was looking for low-cost automation solutions to overcome the bottleneck in their testing process: loading the flies into their behavioural arenas.

The MAPLE-PRO robot consists of standard components as well as some custom-made 3D printed, laser-cut and CNC-machined parts. For this purpose, igus components are used, such as linear rails, bearing blocks, energy chains and customised SLN carriages for the three up and down axes of the robot. 
The Cartesian robot has three main axes of motion: an XY linear robot (flat linear robot) covering the working area of 1000mm x 300mm and three independent z-axes with lead screw, which move up and down.