Optical Target Identification (NP2.x) Vision System for Robotic Positioning

Features:

• Video capture card PCI for IBM-PCs
• Software extension for NPC16 (Image Analysis)
• Video microscope with illumination
• System optimization for custom specific dispense targets
• Detection of geometric structures on the working plate of the Nano-Plotter, minimum size 50 microns
• Dynamic positioning of the tips above the dispense targets (dispense positions can be defined by mouse click)
• Test system for piezoelectric tips (sample taking is followed by an automatic function test using the stroboscope)
• NPL-scripts for automatic error treatment

Automatic chip analysis:
Video microscope above a microelectrode chip, taking a photograph.

Automatic feature detection:
The positions of the microelectrodes (crosshairs within the blue circles) are determined by analysis of certain corners of the chip layout (small crosshairs) and back-calculation.

Chips
After spotting every second microelectrode on the chip, as seen through the microscope camera. The drops on the microelectrodes can be identified by the reflections of the illuminating light on the microscope camera.

Colony picking:
The crosshairs indicate bacterial colonies that were automatically detected on an agar plate.

Pipette Spotting:
Nano-plotter pipette spotting onto a chip with ca. 200 micrometer wide interdigitated gold electrodes.