ABB Robotics and Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI) at Texas Children’s Hospital, one of the largest pediatric hospitals in the US, have made an innovative medical breakthrough by creating an automated Drosophila melanogaster (Fruit Fly) transfer workstation, featuring ABB’s YuMi® cobot to aid the study of diseases including Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s. 

This is the first automation solution that does not require the flies to be immobilized with anesthetics such as carbon dioxide before transfer, a tedious step in previous automation solutions, which can negatively impact the behavior of the flies and potentially the accuracy of study results. 

ABB’s YuMi cobot performs the same movements as human researchers to tap and transfer the flies between vials, allowing scientists to focus on mission-critical tasks such as the discovery of new pathways and testing the efficacy of new drugs in treating neurological disorders. This removes the need to anesthetize the flies before transfer, improving the accuracy of results and speeding up the transfer process.  

“We have seen significant strides in lab automation over the years, yet some crucial tasks are still performed manually which can impact results,” said Jose-Manuel Collados, Manager of ABB Service Robotics Product Line. “Our YuMi cobot’s arms work independently but in a coordinated way, making it possible to automate the complex task of transferring live flies between vials.”    

Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as the fruit fly, is well-established in the study of various aspects of biology, including genetics, development, and behavior. The fruit fly shares many genetic and developmental markers with humans and is used in studies on human neurological diseases globally. 

As part of routine maintenance, researchers feed the fruit flies by transferring them into vials containing fresh food, every 30 days. A typical lab maintains around 20,000 vials and researchers spend about 20 percent of a workday “flipping flies” by placing a vial containing the fly stock over a vial with fresh food and tapping it to drop the flies. All attempts to automate the process to date involved exposing the flies outside the vials during transfer, hence requiring sedation.  

ABB Robotics engineers collaborated with researchers at Duncan NRI to design and build a fly transfer workstation, which includes the YuMi cobot, a table stacked with vials for transfer, a barcode and labeling unit, and a trash chute. 

“This innovative solution to accelerate biomedical research is a result of our close partnership of more than two years with ABB Robotics,” said Dr. Juan Botas, professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics and the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at Baylor College of Medicine and principal investigator at Duncan NRI. “Combining the fruit fly biology and high-throughput expertise of DNRI researchers led by me and Dr. Ismael-Al Ramahi, an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine and also a Duncan NRI investigator, with the automation expertise of ABB engineers, allowed us to design a cobot-based solution, which reduces time, eliminates strain loss, and allows for more experiments to be conducted in parallel.” 

The YuMi handles the entire process of flipping fruit flies, which includes performing 10 pre-programmed steps in quick succession. Just like humans, the YuMi picks up a vial containing live flies, opens the protective cellulose acetate plug, places the vial over one with fresh food, taps the vials to transfer the flies, caps, labels, scans it; and finally stacks the vial in cardboard racks. The robot then discards the vials with the old food to avoid any cross-contamination.  

A significant technical feature integrated into the robot is its capability to read barcodes and print labels, which it applies to the vials with strain and genotype information during the transfer. This feature ensures meticulous tracking and management of the Drosophila strains. The robot’s advanced sensing technologies enable precise placement of vials within standard cardboard racks, granting researchers the option of continuing to use existing vial racks, reducing operational costs.  

More importantly, this robot is engineered to be cooperative and safe for human interaction. Its motion-sensing arms are equipped to detect nearby humans or objects, halting movement instantly to prevent accidents, thereby allowing for a safe collaborative workspace. 

For further information about the project visit the ABB website.