WO2004111657A1 - Experiment simulation device and experiment simulation program - Google Patents

Abstract

It is possible to reduce the labor required for creating a drive program for driving a distribution/poring device. An experiment simulation device includes: a device information storage section (11) for storing information on a virtual distribution/pouring device having a virtual experiment table (101) on which a virtual experiment part (400) is mounted and a virtual arm section (200) movably arranged on above the virtual experiment table; a drive program storage section (12) for storing a drive program of the distribution/pouring device to be simulated and the virtual distribution/pouring device; an arrangement section (22) for arranging the virtual experiment part (400) on the virtual experiment table (101) according to the drive program; a virtual arm drive section (23) for driving the virtual arm section (200) according to the drive program; and a collision judgment section (25) to judge whether collision is present/absent between the virtual arm section (200) and the virtual experiment part (400) or the virtual experiment table (101) in the virtual space.

Description

Experimental simulation device and experimental simulation program

 The present invention relates to a technique for simulating an experiment using a pipetting device. Background art

 In recent years, in the fields of medicine, biotechnology, etc., from the viewpoint of safety, etc., an experiment mode in which a pipetting device performs a pipetting operation that sucks a reagent stored in a test tube and discharges it to another test tube has been widely adopted. Have been. The dispensing device consists of a test tube for storing reagents, an experimental table on which a tip to be mounted on an electric pipette is placed, and an electric pipette mounted on the tip, in the vertical, horizontal, front and rear directions, etc. It is mainly composed of a movable arm.

 The operator preliminarily programs the operation patterns of the arms for storing various liquids on the experiment table from the start to the end of the experiment in the dispensing apparatus, and the dispensing apparatus operates the programmed driving program. The arm is operated based on the results and the experiment is executed.

However, such experiments generally consist of very complicated processes, and the operation patterns of the arms are also various. Therefore, after the experiment is actually started, the arm is placed on the experiment table or the experiment table. There is a possibility that some trouble will occur when the robot collides with the experimental parts such as the damaged container. In order to avoid such troubles, the operator must accurately grasp the operation pattern of the arm and the layout of the experimental parts placed on the experimental table, and create a precise driving program. Is required. In practice, it is difficult to obtain a perfect program from the beginning, so the creation of a drive program is performed by trial and error while repeating tentative experiments. Therefore, there was a problem that a great deal of labor was required to create the drive program. In addition, even with the drive program created in this way, troubles often occur when experiments are actually performed, and whether the dispensing device operates correctly with the created drive program There was a high demand to confirm whether or not it was possible before the actual experiment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

 FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an experimental simulation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

 FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining functions of the present experiment simulation apparatus. FIG. 3 is an external view of the virtual dispensing apparatus, in which (a) shows a perspective view, (b) shows a side view, and (c) shows a front view.

 FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a simulation screen displayed by the experimental simulation device.

 FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present experiment simulation apparatus. Figure 6 shows the simulation dialog screen.

 The description of reference numerals in each drawing is as follows.

 1 0 Storage unit

 1 1 Device information storage

1 2 Drive program storage

 1 3 External file storage

 2 0 Processing unit

 2 1 Display control unit

 2 2 Placement section

2 3 Virtual arm drive

 2 4 History creation section

 2 5 Collision judgment unit

 2 6 Information Department

 2 7 Adjustment section

2 8 Drive program creation section

 1 0 0 Main unit

 1 0 1 Virtual experiment table

 1 0 2 Stopper

2 0 0 Virtual arm 2 0 1 Virtual prop arm

2 0 2 Virtual vertical arm

2 0 3 Virtual front and rear arm

2 0 4 Virtual tip arm

4 0 0 Virtual experiment parts

4 0 1 Virtual electrophoresis tank

4 0 2 Virtual chip

4 0 3 Virtual chip tray

4 0 Virtual test tube

4 0 5 Virtual test tube tray

4 0 6 Virtual electric pipette

4 0 7 Virtual pipette holder Invention disclosure

 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an experiment simulation apparatus and an experiment simulation program that can greatly reduce the time and effort required to create a drive program for a dispensing apparatus.

In order to solve the above problems, the present experimental simulation device uses a dispensing device by causing a virtual dispensing device modeled in a virtual space to execute a driving program for driving the dispensing device. An experiment simulation device for virtually executing an experiment, wherein the virtual dispensing device is disposed movably above a virtual experiment table on which a virtual experiment part is placed and above the virtual experiment table. Device information storage means for storing device information for specifying at least the position, shape, and function of each of the virtual experiment table and the virtual arm in the virtual space, the virtual experiment table and the virtual experiment part. An experimental part storage means for storing at least information for specifying a position, a shape, and a function in a virtual space, based on the driving program Arranging means for arranging the virtual experiment part on the virtual experiment table, virtual arm driving means for operating the virtual arm based on the driving program, and virtual means for the virtual experiment table and the virtual experiment part In the virtual space of the virtual arm in the area on the space When an area is invaded, the virtual arm and the virtual experiment part and the virtual experiment table are provided with collision determination means for determining that they have collided in a virtual space.

 According to this configuration, the virtual dispensing device is virtually driven by using the program for driving the real dispensing device, and the collision between the arm and the virtual experimental part is determined in the virtual space. Therefore, it is possible to grasp the problems of the drive program before actually conducting the experiment. In other words, the problem of the driving program can be grasped without conducting a preliminary experiment using an actual dispensing device, so that the labor required for creating the program can be reduced.

 Further, it is preferable to further include a notifying unit for notifying that the risk of collision is high when the distance between the virtual experiment part and the virtual experiment table and the virtual arm is equal to or less than a threshold value.

 According to this configuration, it is possible to provide a margin for the collision between the arm and the experiment table or the like.

 Further, it is preferable that the apparatus further comprises an adjusting means for adjusting the threshold value. According to this configuration, by adjusting the threshold value, it is possible to arbitrarily set a margin for collision between the arm and the experiment table or the like.

 In addition, from the start of the experimental simulation to the virtual dispensing apparatus to the end of the experimental simulation, history creation for creating a history describing the operation status of the virtual dispensing apparatus for each predetermined operation unit. It is preferable that the system further includes a unit, and that the notifying unit describes the occurrence of the collision in a corresponding column of the history when the collision occurs.

 According to this configuration, since the history in which the operation status of the virtual dispensing device is described for each predetermined operation unit is described as the occurrence of the collision, the operation in which the collision occurred can be quickly specified. .

This experiment simulation prod- tor executes an experiment using a dispensing device virtually by causing a virtual dispensing device modeled in a virtual space to execute a driving program for driving the dispensing device. An experimental simulation program for causing a computer to function as an experimental simulation device to be executed in a virtual experiment table, wherein the virtual dispensing device moves to a virtual experiment table on which virtual experiment parts are placed and to an upper side of the virtual experiment table. A device information storage means including a movably arranged virtual arm, and storing device information for specifying at least a position, a shape and a function of each of the virtual experiment table and the virtual arm in a virtual space; Virtual experiment part storage means for storing information for specifying at least the position, shape and function of the virtual experiment part in the virtual space; and a virtual experiment part on the virtual experiment table based on the driving program. A means for arranging the virtual arm, a virtual arm driving means for operating the virtual arm based on the driving program, and a region in the virtual space of the virtual experiment table and the virtual experiment part in the virtual space of the virtual arm. When the area enters, the virtual arm collides with the experimental part and the experimental table in the virtual space. And characterized by causing a computer to function as a collision determining means for constant. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

 Hereinafter, an experimental simulation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an experimental simulation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

 The experimental simulation device shown in Fig. 1 is composed of a normal computer and has input devices ROM (read only memory) 2, CPU (central processing unit) 3, RAM (random access memory) 4, external storage device 5, A display device 6, a recording medium drive device 7, and an input / output interface (I / F) 9 are provided. Each block is connected to an internal bus, and various data and the like are input / output via this bus, and various processes are executed under the control of the CPU 3.

 The input device 1 includes a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, and is used by the operator to input various data and operation commands.

 The ROM 2 stores system programs such as BIOS (Basic Input / Output System). The external storage device 5 is configured by a hard disk drive or the like, and stores a predetermined OS (Operating System), an experiment simulation program described later, and the like. The RAM 4 is used as a work area of the CPU 3 or the like.

The recording medium drive 7 includes a CD-ROM drive, a flexible disk drive, and the like. The experimental simulation program was used for CD-R〇M, Alternatively, the program may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium 8 such as a shibble disk, and the experiment simulation program may be read from the recording medium 8 by the recording medium driving device 7 and installed in the external storage device 5 to be executed. Further, when the experiment simulation device includes a communication device and the experiment simulation program is stored in another computer connected via a communication network, the experiment simulation program is down-loaded from the computer via the network. It may be executed by mouth.

 The display device 6 includes a liquid crystal display device, a CRT (cathode ray tube), and the like, and displays a simulation screen and the like by the simulation device of the present experiment.

 FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining functions of the present experiment simulation apparatus. This experiment simulation apparatus includes a storage unit 10 and a processing unit 20. The storage unit 10 includes an external storage device 5 and the like, and includes a device information storage unit 11, a drive program storage unit 12, an external file storage unit 13, and a log file storage unit 14.

 The device information storage unit 11 stores device information for specifying at least the position, shape, and function of the virtual dispensing device in the virtual space obtained by modeling the following dispensing device in the virtual space. Is stored. FIG. 3 is an external view of the virtual dispensing apparatus, in which (a) shows a perspective view, (b) shows a side view, and (c) shows a front view. This virtual dispensing device is modeled based on the in-text device “VFX-210” manufactured by the present applicant, and has a virtual main body 100 and a virtual arm 200. I have. The virtual space including the virtual dispensing device has the origin を at the center of gravity of the virtual experiment table 101, the z axis in the vertical direction, the X axis in the long side direction of the virtual experiment table 101, and the virtual experiment table 101. A coordinate system consisting of the y-axis is set in the short side direction, and the position of each component constituting the virtual dispensing device in the virtual space is specified by this coordinate system. The virtual main body 100 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and eight stoppers 102 are virtually disposed at appropriate positions including four corners on the bottom surface. The upper surface portion of the virtual main body 100 is a virtual experiment table 101, and various virtual experiment parts 400 are placed on the virtual experiment table 101.

At a substantially central portion of the virtual experiment table 101, a virtual arm portion 200 is virtually erected. The virtual experiment table 101 is divided into two areas on the left and right with the virtual arm section 200 as the center, and both areas are further divided into nine 3 × 3 rectangular small stage areas. Have been killed. Therefore, the virtual experiment table 101 is composed of a total of 18 small stage areas. Stage numbers 1 to 18 are assigned to the respective small stage areas.

 The virtual arm unit 200 includes a virtual strut arm 201, a virtual vertical arm 202, a virtual front and rear arm 203, and a virtual tip arm 204. The virtual strut arm 201 has a cylindrical shape and is virtually fixed to a substantially central portion of the virtual experiment table 101. The virtual upper and lower arms 202 are attached to the virtual strut arm 201 so as to be virtually rotatable in the direction indicated by A in the figure around the center axis thereof, and are attached to the virtual strut arm 201. On the other hand, it is virtually slidably mounted in the vertical direction indicated by B in the figure. The virtual front and rear arm 203, which is virtually attached from the virtual vertical arm 202 toward the front side, has a rectangular parallelepiped shape elongated in the horizontal direction, and the virtual vertical arm With respect to 202, it is virtually rotatably mounted in the direction indicated by D in the figure. The virtual tip arm 204 attached to the tip side of the virtual front / rear arm 203 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape that is long in the vertical direction. Virtually slidable.

 The virtual end table EP of the virtual tip arm 204 on the virtual experiment table 101 side has various virtual objects such as a virtual electric pipette 406 and a virtual electric hand (not shown) for holding various virtual objects. Experimental parts 400 can be attached. A virtual tip (not shown) is attached to the tip of the virtual electric pit 406. The virtual tip has a conical shape, and is used when the virtual electric pipette 406 virtually sucks and discharges the virtual reagent, and virtually stores the virtually sucked virtual reagent therein.

Various virtual experiment parts 400 are virtually placed on the virtual experiment table 101. The virtual experiment part 400 includes a virtual electrophoresis tank 401, a virtual chip 402 used for virtually inhaling and discharging a virtual reagent, and a virtual chip 402, which are temporarily stored. Virtual chip tray 400, virtual test tubes 404 for virtually storing virtual reagents, virtual test tube tray 405 for virtually storing virtual test tubes 404, virtual test tubes 4 A virtual electric pipette 406 for virtually aspirating and discharging the virtual reagent virtually stored in 04, and a virtual pipe holder 4 for virtually storing the virtual electric pipe 406. 07, a virtual electric hand (not shown) that virtually holds a virtual object, and the like. In the case of Fig. 3 (a), the box-shaped object virtually placed on the left back side of the virtual experiment table 101 is the virtual electrophoresis tank 401, and is in front of the virtual electrophoresis tank 401. Virtual chip trays 40 3 are virtually rectangularly embedded in the virtual chip tray 40 3, and virtual chips 40 3 are virtually embedded in predetermined rows and columns in the virtual chip trays 40 3. The virtual test tube 404 is a virtual test tube 404 in which six tubes are virtually arranged in the front row on the right side of the virtual experiment table 101 and the tip of which is narrowed. A virtual test tube tray 405 virtually supports 4, and a virtual pit holder 407 is erected virtually in front of the virtual support arm 201. The three cylindrical members virtually supported by the virtual pipe holder 407 are virtual motorized pipes 406.

 The drive program storage unit 12 shown in FIG. 2 stores a drive program for driving an actual dispensing device. This drive program is a program created by an operator to operate a real dispensing device.

 The external file storage unit 13 stores various files for storing information necessary for causing the virtual dispensing apparatus to simulate an experiment. These various files are files created in advance by the manufacturer of the present experiment simulation program, and are imported when the present experiment simulation program is installed, or are imported from the outside of the apparatus using a recording medium, the Internet, or the like. File. This file can also be created by the operator himself.

 In detail, an experimental part file (corresponding to experimental part information storage means) for storing various virtual experimental parts 400 used for the experimental simulation is included.

 The log file storage unit 14 stores a log file created by a history creation unit 24 described later.

 The processing unit 20 is realized by the CPU 3 executing the present experiment simulation program, and includes a display control unit 21, an arrangement unit 22, a virtual arm driving unit 23, a history creation unit 24, and a collision. It comprises a judgment unit 25, a notification unit 26, an adjustment unit 27, and a drive program creation unit 28.

The display control unit 21 reads out the information of the virtual dispensing device from the device information storage unit 11 to display the virtual dispensing device on the display device 6 and displays the virtual dispensing device on the virtual arm driving unit 23. The operating status of the virtual arm unit 200 driven in this way is displayed on the display device 6 in real time. FIG. 4 is a screen diagram (simulation screen diagram) showing the virtual dispensing device displayed on the display device 6 by the display control unit 21. This screen diagram is composed of four display areas A1 to A4. Display area A 1 shows the front view of the virtual dispensing device, display area A 2 shows the side view of the virtual dispensing device, display area A 3 shows the top view of the virtual dispensing device, and display area A 4 Displays simulation information indicating the operation status of the virtual dispensing apparatus. In the display areas A1 to A3, various virtual experiment parts 400, virtual firmware units 200, and the like virtually placed on the virtual experiment table 101 are displayed. In the upper part of the display area A4, columns R1 to R3 indicating the respective positions on the x, y, and z axes of the distal end portion EP of the virtual distal end arm 204, the rotation angle of the virtual front and rear arm 203 Column R 4 indicating the movement status of the virtual tip arm 204, for example, ascending, descending, descending, etc., column R 5, virtual virtual arm 406 attached to the virtual tip arm 204, A column R6 for displaying the amount of the virtual reagent that has been aspirated or discharged and a column R7 for displaying the elapsed time from the start of the experiment simulation are displayed. Further, in the lower part of the display area A4, an operation history display column L1 showing the operation status of each predetermined operation unit of the virtual dispensing device is displayed in a table format, and above the operation history display column L1. Indicates a “Save Log” button for saving the operation history to a log file and a “Log Clear” button for deleting the log. When the "Log clear" button is clicked, the operation history displayed in the operation history display column L1 is deleted. Here, the predetermined operation unit is, for example, an operation in which the virtual tip arm 204 mounted with the temporary electric hand virtually holds an object virtually mounted on the virtual experiment table 101, a virtual arm The operation of virtually moving any one virtual arm of the unit 200 from a predetermined movement start position to a predetermined stop position corresponds to one operation unit. Hereinafter, this “predetermined operation unit” is referred to as “one-step operation”.

 The placement unit 22 reads out the virtual experiment parts 400 to be placed on the virtual experiment table 101 from the external file storage unit 13 based on the driving program, and the virtual experiment parts 400 At the layout position on the specified virtual experiment table 101.

The virtual arm drive section 23 virtually drives the virtual arm section 200 according to the drive program stored in the drive program storage section 12. The history creation unit 24 creates, for example, an operation history describing the operation status of the virtual dispensing device for each one-step operation of the virtual arm unit 200, and uses the created operation history as a log file, The information is stored in the file storage unit 14.

 The collision determination unit 25 determines the presence or absence of a collision between the virtual tip arm 204 and the virtual experiment table 101 and the virtual experiment part 400 placed on the virtual experiment table 101. Specifically, it is determined that a collision has occurred when the area of the virtual arm unit 200 has entered the area of the virtual experiment table 101 and the virtual experiment part 400 in the virtual space.

 The notification unit 26 sets a dangerous area including a region of the virtual distal arm 204 in the virtual space and a wider area than a region of the virtual distal arm 204 in the virtual space, When the virtual tip arm 204 moves in the virtual space and the set dangerous area enters the virtual space of the virtual experiment table 101 and the virtual experiment part 400, the virtual arm The operator is notified that the part 2000, the virtual experiment table 101 and the virtual experiment part 400 have come close to each other and are likely to collide. Here, the notification unit 26 notifies the user of the possibility of collision at a high speed by displaying it on the display device 6 or writing the history in the history by the history creation unit 24.

 The controller 27 sets the range of the dangerous area according to the information input by the operator via the input device 1. The setting of the dangerous area is performed by entering a numerical value on a not-shown dangerous area setting screen displayed in a GUI (graphical user interface) format, thereby setting the area of the dangerous area. In the present embodiment, the risk area is assumed to be a rectangular parallelepiped area including the virtual tip arm 204 and having a larger volume than the virtual tip arm 204. Therefore, when the longitudinal direction of the virtual tip arm 204 is placed parallel to the Z axis, the danger zone is z 1 on the + z axis side and z 2 on the -z axis side with respect to one side parallel to the z axis. , X 1 on the side parallel to the X axis, X 1 on the X axis side, X 2 on the X axis side, y 1 on the y axis side, and y 2 on the _ y axis side for one side parallel to the y axis. Is set by determining the respective values of xl, x2, yl, y2, z1 and z2. Further, in the present embodiment, when the virtual electric pipe 406 is attached to the distal end portion EP of the virtual distal end arm 204, the shape of the cylindrical virtual electric pipette 406 is taken into consideration. Thus, it is possible to set the value of z2 to be larger than z1 and the like.

The drive program creation unit 28 is used by the operator to create a drive program. Activate the program creation support tool to receive the drive program created by using the program creation support tool and store it in the drive program storage unit 12.

 FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the experimental simulation device. First, in step S1, when the present experiment simulation program is started by the operator, an external file is read from the external file storage unit 13, and information on the virtual dispensing device is read from the device information storage unit 11, Further, the driving program is read from the driving program storage unit 12, and the virtual dispensing device is displayed on the display device 6 based on the read external file, information on the virtual dispensing device, and the driving program. .

 In this case, as shown in FIG. 4 described above, the virtual experiment part 400 read out from the experiment file is arranged at a layout position on the virtual experiment table 101 specified by the driving program. .

 In step S2, when the operator instructs the start of the simulation from the input device 1, the virtual arm driving unit 23 drives the virtual arm. The simulation start command is issued as follows. When "File" is clicked from the menu bar shown in the upper part of Fig. 4 and the start of the simulation is clicked from the pull-down menu displayed, the simulation dialog screen shown in Fig. 6 is displayed. When the simulation start button T1 with the right arrow mark displayed on the upper left of the simulation dialog screen is clicked, the experiment simulation is started. The button with the square mark displayed to the right of the simulation start button T1 is the simulation pause button T2 for temporarily stopping the experiment simulation, and the button next to the simulation pause button T2 is the simulation pause button T2. The button with the displayed square mark is the simulation stop button T3 for stopping the experimental simulation.

 The slide bar T 4 displayed below these three buttons indicates the progress of the simulation.For example, immediately after the start of the simulation, the slide bar T 4 is located at the left end, and as the simulation progresses. The slide bar T4 slides to the right.

A simulation speed display field T6 indicating the simulation speed is displayed below the slide bar T4. Simulation speed is shown in the simulation speed table. It can be adjusted by the two buttons displayed to the right of the indication column T6.Clicking the button with the up arrow increases the simulation speed by 0.1 times, and clicking the button with the down arrow. Click to decrease the simulation speed by a factor of 0.1. Note that the simulation speed can be adjusted in a range from 0.1 times to 10.0 times.

 In addition, the simulation dialog screen contains a danger zone setting column Τ 7 displayed below the simulation speed display column Τ 6 and a top view for setting the display magnification of the top view shown in display area A 1 in FIG. 4. The magnification field T8, the radio button T10 for setting the viewpoint of the side view shown in the display area A2 of FIG. 4, and the viewpoint of the top view displayed in the display area A3 of FIG. A radio button T9 for setting and a button T11 for closing the simulation dialog screen are provided. When the view point of the side view is set to “left” with the radio button T9, the virtual dispensing device is displayed from the left viewpoint, and when the viewpoint is set to “right”, the virtual dispensing device is displayed from the right viewpoint. Is done.

In step S3, the virtual arm driving section 23 drives the virtual arm section 200 based on the driving program, and the virtual arm section 200 performs a predetermined one-step operation (step S4). ), The collision determination unit 25 determines the presence or absence of a collision in the virtual space between the virtual arm unit 200, the virtual experiment table 101, and the virtual experiment packet 400. Then, when a collision occurs in the virtual space (YES in step S4), the history creation unit 24 describes in the operation history that a collision has occurred in the operation of the one step. On the other hand, if no collision has occurred in step S4 (NO in step S4), the history creating unit 24 indicates that the operation of the one step has been normally performed in the operation history (for example, “normal”). Or “OK”). In this case, the operation status (operation status) for the one-step operation is displayed in the operation history display column L1 shown in the display area A4 in FIG. The displayed operating conditions include a “position” indicating the position of the tip EP of the virtual tip arm 204 on the virtual experiment table 101 and the coordinates of the virtual tip arm 204 in the virtual space. `` Coordinates '', `` Operations '' indicating the contents of the operation of the virtual dispensing device, `` Liquid amount '' indicating the amount of the virtual reagent virtually sucked or discharged by the virtual electric pipette 406, and a virtual space. Includes "remarks" to indicate the presence of a collision above and other errors. In the “Position” column, the tip EP of the virtual tip arm 204 is located on the small stage area with a stage number of 12 For example, when "1 2 small stage area" is displayed, and the tip EP of the virtual tip arm 204 is located on the virtual liquid disposal hole virtually provided in the virtual experiment table 101 , For example, “waste liquid”.

 The column of “coordinates” displays the coordinates (x, y, z) of the distal end portion EP of the virtual distal end arm 204 in the virtual space.

 If the virtual tip arm 204 rises, for example, “up” is displayed in the “operation” column, and if the virtual tip arm 204 falls, for example, “down” appears, When the tip arm 204 is equipped with the virtual electric pit 406, for example, "Pit" is displayed.

 In the “Remarks” column, if the virtual tip arm 204 virtually collides while moving in the horizontal direction (X-axis, y-axis plane), for example, “Horizontal collision” is displayed, and the virtual tip arm 204 is displayed. If a virtual collision occurs while moving in the vertical direction (z-axis direction), for example, “Vertical collision” is displayed and if virtual mounting of virtual chip 402 fails, for example, Failed "is displayed. Furthermore, although the virtual tip arm 204 does not virtually collide with the virtual experiment part 400, if the virtual tip arm 204 enters the danger area, it is displayed that there is a high probability that it will virtually collide.

 In step S6, if all the steps in the experiment simulation have been completed (YES in step S6), the process is terminated. If not all steps have been completed (NO in step S6), step S6 is performed. Returning to step 3, the next step is executed, and the same processing is performed for this step.

 As described above, according to the present embodiment, the virtual arm unit 200 of the virtual dispensing device is operated using the driving program created for operating the real dispensing device, and Since it is determined whether or not a collision has occurred in the above, it is possible to grasp the problems of the drive program without conducting tentative experiments using an actual dispensing device. The labor expended can be greatly reduced.

In the above embodiment, when a collision occurs in the virtual space, the occurrence of the collision is notified by describing the occurrence of the collision in the operation history, but an alarm indicating that the collision has occurred is sounded, or The background of the simulation screen shown in FIG. 4 may be displayed in red, and the occurrence of a collision may be notified by stopping the experiment simulation. Although not described in the above embodiment, the notification unit 26 determines that the possibility of collision is high in a plurality of stages, for example, three stages, according to the distance between the virtual arm unit 200 and the virtual experiment table 101. Notification may be made separately. In this case, the notification unit 26 may increase the frequency of the beep sound, for example, as the probability of collision increases. Industrial applicability

 According to the present invention, it is possible to determine the presence or absence of a collision without actually driving the dispensing device, so that it is possible to greatly reduce the time and effort required to create a driving program. In particular, it greatly contributes to the fields of medicine and biotechnology.

Claims

The scope of the claims  1. An experiment simulation apparatus for virtually executing an experiment using a dispensing device by causing a virtual dispensing device modeled in a virtual space to execute a driving program for driving the dispensing device. ,  The virtual dispensing apparatus includes a virtual experiment table on which a virtual experiment part is mounted, and a virtual arm movably disposed above the virtual experiment table.  Device information storage means for storing device information for specifying at least the position, shape, and function of each of the virtual experiment table and the virtual arm in the virtual space; and at least the virtual experiment part in the virtual space. Experimental part information storage means for storing information for specifying the position, shape and function;  Arranging means for arranging the virtual experiment parts on the virtual experiment table based on the driving program;  Virtual arm driving means for operating the virtual arm based on the driving program;  When the area in the virtual space of the virtual arm enters the area in the virtual space of the virtual experiment table and the virtual experiment part, the virtual arm, the virtual experiment packet, and the virtual experiment table An experimental simulation device comprising: collision determination means for determining that a collision has occurred in a virtual space.  2.If the distance between the virtual experiment part and the virtual experiment table and the virtual arm is equal to or less than a threshold value, the virtual arm further includes a notifying unit for notifying that there is a high risk of collision. 1. The experimental simulation device according to 1.  3. The experiment simulation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an adjusting unit that adjusts the threshold value.  4. From the start of the experiment simulation to the virtual dispensing device to the end of the experiment simulation, a history describing the operation status of the virtual dispensing device is created for each predetermined operation unit. History creation means for  4. The experiment simulation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notifying unit writes the occurrence of the collision in a corresponding column of the history when the collision occurs. 5. A driving program for driving the dispenser is modeled in a virtual space. An experiment simulation program that causes a computer to function as an experiment simulation device that virtually executes an experiment using the dispensing device by causing the virtual dispensing device to execute the program.  The virtual dispensing apparatus includes a virtual experiment table on which a virtual experiment packet is placed, and a virtual arm movably disposed above the virtual experiment table.  Device information storage means for storing device information for specifying at least the position, shape and function of each of the virtual experiment table and the virtual arm in the virtual space;  Experimental part information storage means for storing information for specifying at least the position, shape and function of the virtual experimental part in the virtual space;  Placement means for placing virtual experiment parts on the virtual experiment table based on the driving program;  Virtual arm driving means for operating the virtual arm based on the driving program, when the region in the virtual space of the virtual arm intrudes into the virtual experiment table and the region in the virtual space of the virtual experiment part, An experiment simulation program for causing a computer to function as collision determination means for determining that a virtual arm has collided with the experimental part and the experiment table in a virtual space.