Automatic colony picker PIXL®

for microplatesrobotic armhigh-throughput

Overview PIXL® Integrated Colony Picking Automation is a complete solution for building a fully integrated colony picking workflow offering precision microbial colony transfer at high throughput with reliable walkaway automation.

What it delivers

• High-throughput automated colony isolation suitable for continuous overnight operation.
• Proven performance: achieve >68,000 colonies picked over continuous 24 hour runs when integrating PIXL Max with a robotic arm.
• PIXL with Momentum robotic-arm package reported to deliver up to 15,000 picks a day with zero errors.
• Industry-grade transfer reliability with ~99% transfer efficiency.

Robotic arm functions

• Automates plate handling: plate movement, de-lidding while in use, storage, re-lidding and return of plates when workflows finish.
• Optional in-built barcode scanning for automatic plate identification and full data traceability.
• Enables walkaway automation when combined with an arm and appropriate plate hotels or turntables.

Integration, API and ecosystem

• Partner-agnostic, automation-ready from day one with a fully open-access, well-documented PIXL® API available in multiple languages.
• Tested and integrated with multiple robotic integrators and software platforms; a longstanding integration example is Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Spinnaker robotic arm with Momentum software.
• Designed for integration with laboratory systems such as LIMS to manage workflows and traceability.

Compatibility and deployment

• Compatible with anaerobic-chamber setups; its design (not relying on compressed air) makes it suitable for controlled anaerobic research environments.
• Can be integrated with turntables or plate hotels to allow seamless transitions between manual and autonomous operation as part of a larger workcell.
• Suitable for scaling workflows (HTS), genome-editing pipelines, metabolic engineering and automated MALDI-TOF BioID workflows.

Use cases and examples

• High-throughput screening and genome editing: supports CRISPR workflows, automated colony isolation for large-scale variant libraries.
• Metabolic engineering: end-to-end automated workcells combining colony picking and downstream processing.
• Anaerobic microbiome research: integration within anaerobic chambers for hands-free high-throughput isolation.
• Demonstrated overnight operation in academic and industrial settings (example deployments report continuous multi-hour runs).

Testimonials & supporting material Evidence and case studies on real-world deployments demonstrate walkaway automation freeing staff time and enabling long unattended runs; examples include academic implementations with long-duration picks and integration into LIMS-managed workflows.

Technical specifications

• Commercial name: PIXL®
• Typical transfer efficiency: ~99%
• Reported throughput examples: >68,000 picks per 24 h continuous run (PIXL Max + robotic arm); PIXL with Momentum up to ~15,000 picks/day in described package
• Robotic arm capabilities: plate transport, de-lid/re-lid, plate storage and barcode scanning for traceability
• API: open-access PIXL® API, documented, multi-language examples
• Integration: tested with multiple integrators and Spinnaker/Momentum; compatible with LIMS
• Anaerobic compatibility: suitable for use inside anaerobic chambers; system does not rely on compressed air
• Workcell options: supports plate hotels, turntables and full robotic arm integration for walkaway automation