Devices and methods for determining whether a contact of a liquid dispenser with a liquid based on sound and/or for determining a liquid volume in the liquid dispenser are provided. According to an embodiment, the liquid dispenser includes a sound generator and an acoustic sensor, and at least one of the sound generator or the acoustic sensor is disposed within the dispense chamber portion. According to an embodiment, the liquid dispenser includes a sound generator and an acoustic sensor, and further includes one or more side conduits, where at least one of the sound generator or the acoustic sensor is disposed within a cavity of a respective one of the one or more side conduits, wherein the cavity and a connector of each of the one or more side conduits are free from resonance within a frequency range of the sound sensed by the acoustic sensor.

The invention relates to a measuring apparatus for detecting the relative position of an end portion of a pipetting container by an interaction between a measurement support section of the pipetting container and the measuring apparatus. The invention relates to an automatic laboratory, which comprises this measuring apparatus and to a corresponding measuring method.

The automated pipette manipulation system of the present invention allows for the automated manipulation of any pipette commercially available to aspire and dispense liquids in a chemical or biochemical laboratory setting. Measuring the amount of liquid aspired or dispensed by a pipette is conducted by a load sensor that records the starting point of the displacement of a pushbutton of said pipette and a motor that drives the displacement of said pushbutton a predetermined distance past the starting point that corresponds to a predetermined volume of liquid aspired or dispensed by said pipette. The automated pipette manipulation system of the present invention further detects whether a pipette tip is attached to said pipette and then automatically ejects said pipette tip at the end of a liquid handling process.

A multiple reaction parallel measurement apparatus is intended to measure a large number of reactions quickly, simply and with high accuracy. The apparatus includes: a plurality of light guiding paths corresponding to a plurality of reaction spot array elements, including a measuring end able to be in proximity of or in contact with each one of the reaction spots, and arranged to guide light generated by a reaction at the reaction spot to a connecting end; a measurement head arranged such that the measuring ends reach all together predetermined measurement positions of the corresponding reaction spots of the reaction spot array elements at a predetermined scan period; a light guiding path selector including a light guiding region optically connected to the connecting end; a light receiving unit; and a digital data converter to obtain digital data by converting image region data obtained from the light receiving unit.

A sample preparation apparatus includes a robotic system providing movement in three orthogonal directions to an arm operable to receive a pipette tip and to facilitate movement of fluid into and out of the pipette tip. Optionally, the robot can include a gripper arm in addition to the pipette receiving arm. In addition, the sample preparation apparatus can include a tray for receiving pipette tips, receptacles for receiving tubes, an apparatus for forming an emulsion, a device for forming particles that include copies of the polynucleotide, a device for enriching the particles, as well as a centrifuge for loading such particles onto a sensor array. The sample preparation apparatus can further include receptacles for holding containers of reagent solutions.

To provide a high-throughput automatic analysis apparatus at a lower cost. The automatic analysis apparatus includes an incubator which accommodates a plurality of reaction vessels; a specimen dispensing mechanism which dispenses a specimen into each of the plurality of reaction vessels; a mounting unit which mounts a dispensing tip on the specimen dispensing mechanism; a suction unit which sucks a specimen from a specimen vessel containing the specimen by means of the specimen dispensing mechanism having the dispensing mounted thereon; a discharging unit which is provided in the incubator and discharges the specimen from the specimen dispensing mechanism to the reaction vessel; a disposal unit which discards the dispensing tip; a sensor which detects whether the dispensing tip is mounted to the specimen dispensing mechanism; and a control unit which controls the specimen dispensing mechanism. The mounting unit, the suction unit, the discharging unit, and the disposal unit are arranged along a movement path of the specimen dispensing mechanism. The sensor is arranged so as to be able to detect the dispensing tip at a position sandwiched between any two of the mounting unit, the suction unit, the discharging unit, and the disposal unit.

A feature amount extraction unit outputs, as a data series, a feature amount of time-series data of an oscillation frequency of an AC signal of an oscillation circuit until a certain time elapses from when a dispensing probe starts to be lowered. Then, a bubble contact determination processing unit determines whether a liquid level has been normally detected based on a correlation between a waveform of the data series of the feature amount and an abnormal waveform model. Further, based on a determination result, a second controller determines a deviation between a tip portion of the dispensing probe and the liquid level in a container and a factor of the deviation.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic analyzer that detects a liquid level by using an electrostatic capacity system. Feature values are extracted from time-series oscillating frequency data of an alternating current signal that is output by an oscillation circuit in a period from a time point at which a dispensing probe starts moving downward till a time point at which a certain period of time has elapsed. On the basis of the feature values from the time-series oscillating frequency data, it is determined whether or not the liquid level in a container has been detected properly, by using different methods. Whether a gap is present between the tip portion of the dispensing probe and the liquid level in the container and a reason for the gap are determined from a combination of multiple determination results obtained by using the methods.

A sample analyzing apparatus for performing an optical-based measurement on a sample includes a housing, a first light source, excitation optics, a first light detector, emission optics, and a monitoring system, all of which are disposed in the housing. The monitoring system is configured for monitoring a movable component disposed in the housing. The monitoring system includes one or more light sources for illuminating the movable component, and one or more light detectors for detecting light reflected from the movable component in response to being illuminated.

Systems and methods provide for detection and controlled interaction with one or more objects. The system can include an imaging subsystem (20), a tool subsystem (26) containing one or more tools, a stage subsystem (16) and a control system (40). The control system (40) can integrate controls for each of the other subsystems, which controls can be implement desired functions over a variety of process parameters to perform the controlled interaction.