Robotic apparatus and methods for maintaining stocks of small organisms

An apparatus for automatically transferring live organisms from a donor container to a recipient container.

An apparatus for transferring organisms from a donor container to a recipient container, the apparatus comprising:

• gas manifold fluidly connectable to a source of gas, the gas manifold being configured such that, whenever the donor container and the recipient container are positioned at the gas manifold and the source of gas is activated to supply gas to the gas manifold, a flow of gas is directed to blow the organisms from the donor container to the recipient container.

An apparatus for transferring populations of organisms contained in donor containers to corresponding recipient containers, the apparatus comprising:

• at least one transfer device configured to transfer a population of organisms from a donor container to a respective recipient container;
• and
• a robotic arm configured to automatically pick up a donor container and transfer said donor container to the transfer device and to pick up a corresponding recipient container and transfer said recipient container to the transfer device for transferring the organisms from said donor container to said recipient container.

An apparatus for automatically transferring organisms from a donor container to a recipient container, the apparatus comprising:

• means for temporarily immobilizing the organisms in the donor container;
• and
• means for transferring the organisms from the donor container to the recipient container after the insects have been immobilized.

A method for transferring live organisms from a donor container to a recipient container, the method comprising:

• temporarily immobilizing the organisms in the donor container by exposing the organisms to an anesthetic;
• and
• transferring the immobilized organisms from the donor container to the recipient container.

A method for transferring live organisms from a donor container to a recipient container, the method comprising:

• positioning the donor container and the recipient container such that an open top of the donor container is adjacent an open top of the recipient container;
• and
• directing a flow of gas into the donor container such that the organisms are carried by the flow of gas from the donor container to the recipient container.