Telerobotic macros for remote handling of protein crystals

A combined University/Industry team has developed a prototype system for handling protein crystals aboard the space station. This system uses a miniature direct drive robot, CCD television cameras, and a client-server computing system using Internet protocols to support the capture of protein crystals from aqueous growth solutions. The system was demonstrated between Huntsville AL, and Seattle WA. An operator in Huntsville controlled the mini robot by invoking predefined relative and absolute macro files. A set of movement macros (a predefined sequence of multi-device movement commands) were developed to support precision motion between task locations in the glovebox. The operator can invoke the macros by clicking icons in the remote control interface. The system is a promising start for the development of a space-station based remote protein crystal analysis facility