A Micromanipulation System for Spatial Single-Cell Isolation Using a 5-DoF Configuration-Adaptive Remote-Center-of-Motion Mechanism
Hao Mo, Shuzhang Liang, Hirotaka Sugiura, Rixin Wang, Satoshi Amaya, Yuko Ukai, Yoshikatsu Sato, Fumihito Arai
Abstract
Spatially resolved single-cell analysis of plant root tissues requires isolating target cells while preserving their original three-dimensional tissue context, which remains challenging due to microscopic size, structural fragility, and dense spatial distribution. This article presents an automated micromanipulation system featuring a five-degree-of-freedom remote-center-of-motion based micromanipulator with a lockable variable-stiffness joint, enabling configuration-dependent workspace transformation and precise tool-target alignment under constrained environments. A picoliter-resolution piezo-actuated pump provides gentle aspiration, while a YOLO-based detection network combined with confocal Z-stack scanning enables three-dimensional target localization. Experiments demonstrate a workspace expansion from 30° to 107°, an absolute positioning accuracy of 3.1 μm, a 95.5% isolation success rate, and an average pickup time of 8.7 s per cell. The proposed system enables accurate and repeatable isolation of spatially distributed protoplasts (2–30 μm in diameter) from densely populated root cap tissues, providing a practical foundation for automated and spatially tracked single-cell isolation in plant biology.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{ral2026_amicromanipulati,
title = {A Micromanipulation System for Spatial Single-Cell Isolation Using a 5-DoF Configuration-Adaptive Remote-Center-of-Motion Mechanism},
author = {Hao Mo and Shuzhang Liang and Hirotaka Sugiura and Rixin Wang and Satoshi Amaya and Yuko Ukai and Yoshikatsu Sato and Fumihito Arai},
booktitle = {RA-L 2026},
year = {2026}
}