Study of robotic system for automated oocyte manipulation

Abstract

This paper reports a robotic micromanipulation system with a lab-developed cell container to handle oocyte or embryo automatically. The cell container can be an alternative to assemblage of multiple culture-dishes. Based on microscopic image processing and motion control algorithms, cells were tracked in real time and relational moving components were synchronously controlled during the whole procedure. Vitrification for oocyte (embryo) was conducted at a speed of 25-35 seconds: no more than 2 seconds for cell aspiration and 3-4 seconds for cell transfer. Experimental results demonstrated that automated oocyte manipulation was of high repeatability because of few cell missing from computer vision; and its success rate was 89.6%, which is higher than manual operation.