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Design of a Robot-Assisted Chemical Dialysis System

Diane Jung, Caleb Escobedo, Noah Liska, Maitrey Gramopadhye, Daniel Szafir, Alessandro Roncone, Carson Bruns

Abstract

Scientists perform diverse manual procedures that are tedious and laborious. Such procedures are considered a bottleneck for modern experimental science, as they consume time and increase burdens in fields including material science and medicine. We employ a user-centered approach to designing a robot-assisted system for dialysis, a common multi-day purification method used in polymer and protein synthesis. Through two usability studies, we obtain participant feedback and revise design requirements to develop the final system that satisfies scientists' needs and has the potential for applications in other experimental workflows. We anticipate that integration of this system into real synthesis procedures in a chemical wet lab will decrease workload on scientists during long experimental procedures and provide an effective approach to designing more systems that have the potential to accelerate scientific discovery and liberate scientists from tedious labor.

Design of a Robot-Assisted Chemical Dialysis System

Abstract

Scientists perform diverse manual procedures that are tedious and laborious. Such procedures are considered a bottleneck for modern experimental science, as they consume time and increase burdens in fields including material science and medicine. We employ a user-centered approach to designing a robot-assisted system for dialysis, a common multi-day purification method used in polymer and protein synthesis. Through two usability studies, we obtain participant feedback and revise design requirements to develop the final system that satisfies scientists' needs and has the potential for applications in other experimental workflows. We anticipate that integration of this system into real synthesis procedures in a chemical wet lab will decrease workload on scientists during long experimental procedures and provide an effective approach to designing more systems that have the potential to accelerate scientific discovery and liberate scientists from tedious labor.
Paper Structure (18 sections, 2 figures, 2 tables)

This paper contains 18 sections, 2 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. Methods
  4. Participant Recruitment.
  5. Preliminary Interviews.
  6. User Feedback Sessions.
  7. System Prototype
  8. Dialysis Membrane Holder.
  9. System Setup.
  10. Save Container Locations.
  11. Graphical User Interface (GUI)
  12. Level of Automation.
  13. Testing and Validation.
  14. Results
  15. First Session.
  16. ...and 3 more sections

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Photo of the (A) experimental setup with the Franka Research 3 (FR3), six 4 L Nalgene containers filled with water, each placed on a stir plate. (B) Preliminary and (C) modified dialysis membrane holder prototypes.
  • Figure 2: Graphical user interface of the robot-assisted dialysis system with key improvements emphasized in white boxes.