Automatic bacterial colony transfer apparatus

Claim 1

An automatic bacterial colony transfer apparatus comprising: a computer with memories; a culture container in which bacterial colonies are cultivated; a test container into which a specific one of the bacterial colonies is transferred from said culture container; two X-Y stages on which said culture container and said test container are respectively mounted, said X-Y stages being arranged to be independently movable of each other under the control of said computer; a monitor section for monitoring the bacterial colonies on a surface of a medium in said culture container to observe said specific one of the bacterial colonies, said monitor section including a television camera disposed above said culture container and a display device disposed at a position suitable for observation by an operator, said television camera being provided for photographing the bacterial colonies in said culture container, said display device being provided for displaying an enlarged picture image of said colonies and said display device is also provided with a cursor for selecting said specific one of said bacteria colonies in said culture container on said display device, said memories storing information with respect to the position of said specific bacterial colony, and each of said Y-Y stages is moved in accordance with the movement of said cursor and under the control of said computer; a pickup section having an end portion for picking up said specific bacterial colony from said culture container and for transferring the picked-up bacterial colony to a surface of a medium in said test container; and a transporting section for sequentially transporting said pick-up section between said culture and said test container under the control of said computer, whereby said specific bacterial colony is selected through said monitor section and automatically transferred from the medium of said culture container to the medium of said test container.