| The purpose of the work reported in this dissertation was to explore the use of laboratory robots as more than sample preparation devices. The classical group I and II qualitative analysis schemes were programmed to determine the robot's ability to perform nonroutine, nonrepetitive analyses.;Non-routine analyses generally require more equipment, reagents, and programming to accommodate the options presented by variable sample conditions. Sample-handling strategies were needed for the different requirements of the nonrepetitive analyses. These strategies must also reduce the time the robot requires to perform the procedures because additional analysis time lead to unexpected errors.;The robot was also interfaced with expert systems to perform a standard additions analysis and the determination of residual chlorine in water samples. In intelligent robot systems, the "brains" of the expert systems guide the "hands" of the robot through analytical procedures developed by sample conditions. In the standard additions method, the system determines the minimum number of additions required to obtain acceptable results, a number different for each sample. It was found that not all systematic errors must be controlled, since a functionalized error can be corrected by the computer.;In the residual chlorine analysis system, the expert system chooses among six possible methods to quantitate the residual chlorine for a water sample. The system determines the interferences present in each sample and uses that information to select the correct method. It was shown that a robot can be used to develop a useful system for real chemical analyses. The system consistently chose the same method as a technician chose for the determination of residual chlorine. |
