Design of an automated robotic microinjection system for batch injection of zebrafish embryos and larvae  

作　　者：Zhongyi Guo Nana Ai Wei Ge Qingsong Xu 

机构地区：[1]Department of Electromechanical Engineering,Faculty of Science and Technology,University of Macao,Macao,China [2]Department of Biomedical Sciences and Centre of Reproduction,Development and Aging(CRDA),Faculty of Health Sciences,University of Macao,Macao,China

出　　处：《Microsystems & Nanoengineering》2024年第1期89-103,共15页微系统与纳米工程（英文）

基　　金：supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 52175556;the Macao Science and Technology Development Fund under Grants 0102/2022/A2 and 0004/2022/AKP;the University of Macao under Grants MYRG2022-00068-FST,MYRG2022-00219-FHS and MYRG-CRG2022-00004-FST-ICI;the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation under Grant 2023A1515011178.

摘　　要：This paper presents the design of a vision-based automated robotic microinjection system for batch injection of both zebrafish embryos and larvae.A novel visual recognition algorithm based on an automatic threshold and excessive dilatation is introduced to accurately identify the center of zebrafish embryos and larval yolks.A corresponding software system is developed using the producer-consumer model as the framework structure,and a friendly user interface is designed to allow operators to choose from a range of desired functions according to their different needs.In addition,a novel microstructural agarose device is designed and fabricated to simultaneously immobilize mixed batches of embryos and larvae.Moreover,a prototype microinjection system is fabricated by integrating hardware devices with visual algorithms.An experimental study is conducted to verify the performance of the robotic microinjection system.The results show that the reported system can accurately identify zebrafish embryos and larvae and efficiently complete batch microinjection tasks of the mixtures with an injection success rate of 92.05%in 13.88 s per sample.Compared with manual and existing microinjection systems,the proposed system demonstrates the merits of versatility,excellent efficiency,high success rate,high survival rate,and sufficient stability.

关 键 词：ZEBRA AUTOMATED HARDWARE 

分 类 号：TP242[自动化与计算机技术—检测技术与自动化装置]