Bioassay incubator for use with robotic arms

Claim 1

A bioassay incubator for use with a robotic arm, said incubator comprising: (a) a housing; (b) a first plurality of linearly spaced apart shelves disposed within said housing, said shelves dimensioned to support thereon bioassay trays; (c) a robotic access opening defined in said housing and extending along said first plurality of shelves, through which robotic access opening said first plurality of shelves may be accessed by a robotic arm to place on, or to remove from, said bioassay trays; (d) sealing means disposed over and substantially sealing said robotic access opening; (e) said sealing means having defined therethrough a robotic access window, said robotic access window being positionable adjacent a selected one of said first plurality of shelves and being minimally dimensioned to permit said robotic arm to access said selected one of said shelves therethrough, while said sealing means otherwise substantially seals said robotic access opening to minimize disturbance of the interior environment of said incubator; (f) said sealing means comprising a flexible curtain, with said robotic access window therein selectively positionable in said robotic access opening by moving said flexible curtain back and forth across said robotic access opening; (g) one end of said flexible curtain being attached to a head roller disposed at one end of said robotic access opening and the other end of said flexible curtain being attached to a tail roller disposed at the other end of said robotic access opening; and (h) an electric motor attached to both said head and tail rollers to simultaneously rotate both said head and tail rollers.