This customer manufactures automated biological sample handling systems. Their machines automate the handling of vials and test tubes, organizing them into trays and uncapping them if necessary. Two robot arms sort the samples into the trays used by the analysis equipment. Depending on the test being performed, a decapper module unscrews and removes the caps from the test tubes.
The machine uses two Galil motion controllers. A DMC-2183 eight axis motion controller handles motion control for the X, Y, Z, and theta axes of the two robot arms. Each robot arm moves independently in its own X-Y-Z-Theta coordinate space. A DMC-2143 four axis controller handles the tube decapper module. Galil’s AMP-20440 “sandwich” servo drives are attached directly to motion controllers, which minimizes space, reduces wiring, and saves cost.
Galil’s user-friendly software tools allowed for fast and intuitive software development. The basic motion is programmed on the controller using Galil’s simple two-letter command language. A host PC with a touch screen is used as the GUI/HMI. The PC software is programmed in C#, so Galil’s .NET API was used for seamless communication with the motion controllers, executing the motion programs depending on the system’s state and reading status variables for display to the user.
