Postage Bottle Decapper

AUTONOMA’s Lightning Automated Robotic Bottle Decapper provides a fast and efficient solution for decapping postage containers that hold sample bottles during transport. Manually decapping these containers is a time-consuming task that often leads to repetitive strain injuries among laboratory staff.

The modular design allows for variants with 1, 2, 4 or more decapping lanes, and permits simple expansion and interfacing with AUTONOMA’s full range of NextGen laboratory automation in the future. This includes automatic sample registration via QR code, barcode, or RFID. Registered samples on the output belts can then be moved via a robotic arm straight into a mixer or the first instrument for analysis such as AUTONOMA’s Lightning PQ.

The Lightning Decapper can be easily customised to include other features or sample preparation steps. This includes but is not limited to:

• Camera system to photograph side and/or bottom of sample bottles
• Sample Bottle decapping
• FTIR
• Viscometry
• Sample aliquoting and dilution for ICP/IC
• Aliquoting into test tubes
• Turbidity
• Colour Analysis
• Crackle Test
• TAN/TBN

Featuring 1,2 or 4 separate belts, operators simply load the postage containers directly onto the belt. Each lane has a separate decapping mechanism which ensures maximum throughput and redundancy. The system automatically unscrews the lid and drops it into a bucket for recycling.

Once decapped, the containers move through the system onto the output belt, which transports them to a workstation for sample registration. Each output belt leads to a separate workstation staffed by an operator. These workstations are ergonomically designed for efficiency, allowing operators to quickly register samples into the LIMS and build trays for analysis.

Each lane can process a sample in approximately 10 seconds, which equates to over 8600 samples per lane per day. The machine is easy to use via the built-in touch screen and safety is exceptional, with all doors being mechanically interlocked while the machine is in operation.

User-friendly and ergonomic, the machine is purely operated via a built-in touchscreen. Operators simply load bottles onto the lane of their choice and the system will start automatically with no further intervention.