Patent ID: 8685321

Claim:
A system for analyzing a plurality of small objects, said system comprising: a staging console structured to support a plurality of sample trays populated with a plurality of arrayed sample containers, each sample container containing a respective object sample comprising a plurality of objects; a plurality of workstations structured and operable to analyze each object sample provided by each sample tray, each workstation comprising: a robotic container transfer subsystem structured and operable to sequentially remove and replace each of the sample containers arrayed in at least one of the sample trays; an automated analysis subsystem comprising: a data collection assembly structured and operable to analyze each respective object sample; and at least one processing assembly structured and operable to receive selected sample containers removed from the respective sample tray and placed into the processing assembly by a 3-axis sample container handling robot of the robotic container transfer subsystem, dispense each object sample, obtain data to determine the volume of the object sample contained within each respective sample container, and deposit each measured object sample into one of a plurality of data acquisition cups of the data collection assembly based on the volume of the respective object sample; and a tray shuttle robot structured and operable to remove each sample tray from the staging console, distribute each sample tray to a corresponding one of the workstations, retrieve the sample trays from the workstations, and return each sample tray to the staging console.