Petri Dish Gripper for OpenTrons

thingiverse

This is a servo-operated gripper designed specifically for picking up and putting down petri dishes using the OpenTrons, an open-source liquid handling robot that's similar to a reprap. The gripper's low profile design allows it to fit seamlessly on the robot, and its advanced capabilities will eventually enable it to flip plates over, pick them up, move them, and remove their lids. Check out this animated GIF for a better understanding: https://media.giphy.com/media/xT1R9G8Y8mCnfAzVJK/giphy.gif The ultimate goal is to convert the OpenTrons into a colony picking robot that automates molecular biology processes. To bring this vision to life, I employed the Emax E08MD micro metal gear digital servo. The analog version, E08MA, would likely work just as well. A variety of plastite screws were used in the construction process. Specifically, 3/8" #3-24 thread screws were utilized for mounting the servo and attaching slide1 to slide2. Meanwhile, 1/2" 3/32 diameter plastite screws were used to secure slide2 to armwrist. A short M2 machine screw was also employed to attach the servogear to the servo.