Patent ID: 7787681

Claim:
A robotic system for transporting biological samples, comprising: (a) a plurality of capillary vessels, each capillary vessel containing a biological sample from a population; (b) a receptacle, said receptacle containing the plurality of capillary vessels; (c) a centrifuge; (d) a first robotic device for transporting the receptacle between an input module and the centrifuge; (e) a second robotic device for transporting the receptacle between the centrifuge and a sample harvest location; (f) a cutting device for cutting each of the plurality of capillary vessels; (g) a multi-well plate having a plurality of wells arranged in an array; and (h) a third robotic device for transferring at least one portion of each of the plurality of biological samples from each of the plurality of capillary vessels to a corresponding well in the array.