Patent ID: 9150900
Filing Date: 2015-10-06
Classification: C12M,C12Q,G01N

Abstract:
1. A detection apparatus for rapid non-invasive detection of microorganism growth in a specimen sample, comprising: (a) a sealable specimen container having an internal chamber with a culture medium disposed therein for culturing any microorganisms that may be present in said specimen sample; (b) a housing enclosing an interior chamber therein, said housing further comprising an entrance location therein configured to receive said specimen container in a vertical orientation; (c) a holding structure contained within said housing and comprising a plurality of horizontally oriented wells for holding one or more of said specimen containers; (d) a detection unit located within said interior chamber for the detection of microorganism growth in said specimen container; and (e) a multi-axis robotic transfer arm within said housing configured to automatically transfer said specimen container from said entrance location to said holding structure, wherein said multi-axis robotic transfer arm comprises: at least one horizontal support rail in a first horizontal axis and a moveable vertical support rail, wherein said vertical support rail is supported by said at least one horizontal support rail and moveable along said horizontal support rail, a horizontal slide rail in a second horizontal axis, said horizontal slide rail supporting a movable robotic head and gripper mechanism, wherein said robotic head and gripper mechanism are moveable along said horizontal slide rail in said second horizontal axis away from and toward said holding structure, and wherein said horizontal slide rail further comprises a pivot plate and a pivot slot, wherein said robotic head and gripper mechanism is coupled to said pivot plate and said pivot plate further comprises a moveable pivot slot cam follower, wherein said cam follower is moveable between a first position in said pivot slot and a second position in said pivot slot, and wherein said robotic head and gripping mechanism rotate from a vertical orientation to a horizontal orientation by said movement of said cam follower from said first position in said pivot slot to said second position in said pivot slot.