Apparatus for automatically depositing, preserving and recovering specimens of biological materials in/from a refrigerated store using two distinct static robots

An apparatus for automatically depositing, storing and recovering specimens of biological material, contained in test tubes, in/from a refrigerated store in which test tubes are stored in containers of a plurality of test tubes,

• wherein it comprises
• two test tube handling devices suitable for handling single test tubes, each attached to a respective support bracket at the opposite ends or the refrigerated store, and for loading/unloading single test tubes to/from carriers of single test tubes movable on a conveyor adjacent to the refrigerated store,
• two revolving plates, in correspondence with each of said two test tube handling devices, each one comprising only two different locations, a depositing location and a working location each able to accommodate a container of a plurality of test tubes, a rotation of 180° transforming the depositing location into a working location and vice-versa, thus letting the revolving plate alternate only between two extreme positions,
• a container handling device configured for horizontally loading the containers from the refrigerated store and supply them to the depositing location of one of said two revolving plates and vice-versa, said container handling device being horizontally movable along a sliding guide mounted on a profile adjacent to the refrigerated store such that said container handling device can reach different positions of said refrigerated store, and
• a control unit coordinating the activities of said devices for handling the test tubes and containers and of each of said revolving plates during the loading/unloading operations.