V&P Scientific is proud to introduce it's third generation robot,  the VP 903B.  Many of our customers have been encouraging us to develop an economical robot that was both simple to use and capable of complex protocols.   We are proud to say that the VP 903B  fills that bill.  Coming in at under $32,000 we have a system of nanoliter to microliter delivery that can be used for, 24, 48, 96, 384 and 1536 microplate formats.  This is accomplished without the use of pipet tips; further reducing assay costs. Neither programming background nor automation experience is required to operate the VP 903B.  The VP 903B  incorporates a user-friendly, touch-screen programming that takes less than 10 minutes to complete.

VP 903B

The VP 903B will accommodate all our pin tools and pins.  This gives you great flexibility of volume transferred from 2 nl to 25 ul.  The accuracy and precision data with the Pin Tool Robot is the same as we get with other robot systems using our pin tools, (better than 5% CVs).  Because we can reproducibly control the speed of withdrawal from a liquid we are able to achieve very reproducible delivery results and we can control the volume delivered within a 3 fold range by adjusting the speed of pin withdrawal.

The 16 position carousel allows you a variety of options for your assays.  It is easy to manually feed the carousel however the carousel configuration is amenable to mate to a robotic arm and a stacker for walk away applications. 

The VP 903B Pin Tool Robot is equipped with electrical and port rotary unions which will allow electrical, fluid, gas and/or vacuum connections to any rotating deck position.  An accessory platform on top of the deck provides a convenient location to park even the bulkiest drives, controls and machines.  The VP 903B will also accommodate all our V&P pin tools.  This gives you great flexibility of volume transferred from 2 nl to 25 ul.

It is easy to manually feed the carousel, however the carousel configuration is amenable to mate to a robotic arm and a stacker for walk away applications.

Here's a link to an article that discusses pin tools as viable dispensing alternative.

Easily Programmed by touch-screen interface

• Cost Effective
• Software included in Base Price
• Easy Touch Screen Programming
• Integrates with Robotic Arms and Stackers via touch-screen
• Software integrating Twister I Plate Handler/Stacker included in software package
• 24, 48, 96, 384 and 1,536 Plate Formats
• 2ηl - 25µl Liquid Transfer

• Volume Transfer controlled by Z speed

• Less Than 5% CV’s on HTS

• Colony Transfers to agar plates

• Electric Accessory Compatible

• Designed for continuous Liquid flow accessories

• Designed for continuous vacuum flow accessories

• Designed for continuous gas flow accessories

• Crash Protection Built Into The Hardware

• Crash Protection Built Into The Software

• Program Can Accommodate 256 Separate Steps

• Program Can Accommodate 999 cycles

• 2 separate programs can be stored in memory

• 7 Different Plate Definitions Can Be Accepted In Each Program

• Each Plate Definition defines a different Z Height, Z Speed, Peck Delay and Number of Z Cycles
   

Plate Stacker Compatible

We now offer reconditioned Twister I (Zymark-Caliper)  Plate Handler/Stacker robots VP 920 and with the extended capacity VP 920A to work in tandem with the Pin Tool Robot.

The VP 920 consists of a reconditioned Twister I robot with two 20 plate stacking hotels.

The  VP 920A (Extended Capacity) is a platform with three additional 20 plate stacking hotels.
 

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Plate Handler Compatible

We have developed the software to control the Twister I and it is resident in the VP 903B.  Programing the Twister I uses the same intuitive command structure on the touch screen as used in programing the VP 903B Pin Tool Robot.  The software for the Twister I is provided at no additional charge.

Tip Charger Pin Cleaning

The VP 903B Pin Tool Robot is compatible with many different accessories.  Both the 96 and 384 Cerionx Tip Charger heads are accommodated on the robot deck while the vacuum pumps and electrical transformers are housed on the auxiliary accessory platform above the deck.

The Cerionx Tip Charger generates a high frequency plasma that vaporizes most substances to elemental forms, H₂O and CO₂.  Thus greatly simplifying the task of pin cleaning or sterilizing pins.   Using the Tip Charger reduces the number of deck positions required to clean the pins using conventional wash procedures from 5 to one and shortens the time required to clean the Pin Tool.

Mixing With Pins and an Orbital Shaker

The ultimate method for mixing compounds in microplates is to use a plate on an orbital shaker while the pins are going into wells.  It is like stirring a tall glass with swizzle stick only you are moving the glass not the swizzle stick. Joerg Dreessen demonstrated the utility of this technique at the 2004 SBS meeting.  This method is especially useful when dispensing DMSO to an aqueous recipient plate as the DMSO has a greater specific gravity than water and will fall to the bottom of the wells, where it may have a toxic effect on cells growing there.  Many investigators comment that Orbital Shakers by themselves do not provide adequate mixing in 384 square plates.  Putting equivalent of a swizzle stick into each well and shaking completely overcomes that problem.

We offer both 384 (VP 324)and 1,536 (VP 326) H+P orbital shakers for use on the VP 903B Pin Tool Robot.  We recommend you use the VP 324 on 96 well microplates and the VP 326 on 384 well microplates.

Heating Block Compatible

Designed to meet the high temperature requirements of scientists to heat plates on a robot deck.  The "cut away" low profile design allows the robot plate handler to move the plates around the deck between multiple heating stations and cooling stations.

96/384 Plate Reformattor

VP 381O is simple registration device that allows the researcher to reformat plates from 96 to 384 or the reverse using a 96 Pin Tool.  The reformattor has a SBS footprint on the bottom that fits into a deck station on the VP 903B.  When a 384 well microplate is placed on 1 of the 4 positions of the Reformattor, the 96 pin tool will be aligned to the same relative quadrant of the microplate.  The entire 384 well microplate is addressed when the 384 well microplate is manually moved between the 4 positions

With the advent of 384 and 1,536 well microplates, the demand for accurate placement of Pin Tools, pipet tips, aspiration and dispense manifolds has increased.  Just using a microplate as the registration target is not precise enough.  We have also encountered a number of the older robotic systems such as the Carl Creative Systems, Beckman MultiMek, Sagian MultiPette, Plate Trak,  Mini Trak, Molecular Devices FLIPPER and even the Tecan TeMO that were not rotationally true when converted to 1536 Pin Tool applications.  These systems needed rotationally adjustable mounting plates.  Furthermore these registration target plates are indispensable for making these rotational adjustments.

VP 904