CN112005960A - A method for automatic breeding of pregnant female mice - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a method for automatic breeding of female mice during pregnancy. The method includes arranging RFID and AGV handling robots on each cage to remove the corresponding cages from the shelves, transport them to a mouse-changing workbench, and promptly deal with the death of female mice. Cage, monitor the pregnancy status of the mother mouse, if a mouse is born, the RFID reader resets the RFID storage information on the cage, and transports the cage to the gender identification and sorting of the mice through the reproductive processing channel. workshop. The female mouse breeding method of the invention is applied to the production activities of large-scale and automated breeding of rats and mice in experimental animal breeding units in a barrier environment, and meets the quality requirements of scientific research institutes, universities, hospitals, pharmaceutical factories and other customer groups for experimental rats and mice . The invention applies technologies such as image processing and automatic cage changing to the automatic breeding process of pregnant female mice, reduces the interference factors in the artificial breeding process, reduces the external stimulation to the breeding of experimental mice, and can cultivate experiments with better quality young mouse.

Description

A method for automatic breeding of pregnant female mice

technical field

The invention belongs to the technical field of experimental animal breeding, and in particular relates to an automated method for breeding female mice during pregnancy.

Background technique

Rats and mice are important experimental animals, which play an extremely important role in improving the quality of human life, developing biomedical technology, and promoting social and economic development. Mice and rats used in modern medical research must be kept in a comfortable, stress-free and controlled barrier environment. At present, large and mouse breeding units still use manual methods for raising, and the degree of automation of breeding facilities is not high. The breeders frequently enter and leave the mouse house to feed and feed water, clean cages, observe the life characteristics of mice and other activities, which can easily cause the breeding mice to suffer. interference from the external environment. On the basis that large and mice are susceptible to interference, it is undoubtedly more difficult to obtain higher-quality experimental mice, which also shows the market demand for this aspect.

At present, the feeding of experimental female mice during pregnancy mainly relies on artificial methods. In addition to the routine breeding activities such as feeding and water feeding and changing cages regularly in the breeding of rats and mice, the breeding of female mice during pregnancy also requires regular monitoring of the pregnancy status and childbirth status of the female mice, which greatly increases the labor intensity of the breeders. On the other hand, frequent feeding and monitoring activities by breeders will also aggravate the interference and stimulation of the external environment on the pregnant female mice, reduce the quality of the female mice, and may have adverse effects on the offspring mice. The automated breeding method of mother mice during pregnancy can minimize the impact of external factors on mother mice and their offspring mice, which is of great significance for cultivating better quality experimental mice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the deficiencies of the prior art, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to propose a method for automatic breeding of pregnant female mice. The present invention applies technologies such as image processing and automatic cage changing to the automated breeding process of pregnant female mice. The interference factors in the artificial breeding process are reduced, the external stimulation to the breeding of experimental mice is greatly reduced, and experimental young mice with better quality can be cultivated.

In order to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention can be realized by the following technical measures: a method for automatic breeding of pregnant female mice, including a cage frame, a cage for raising pregnant female mice on the cage frame, an AGV handling robot, and a mouse-changing workbench. , a fault channel and a control room, the method comprising the following steps:

1) RFID is set on each cage, and the RFID stores information such as the cage number, the position of the cage where the cage is located, and the initial time when the cage is just put on the cage;

2) When the RFID counting time reaches one week, the AGV handling robot will remove the corresponding cage from the shelf and transport it to the mouse changing workbench;

3) During the process of transporting to the mouse-changing workbench, the infrared sensing device on the AGV handling robot will determine the survival status of the female mouse. Manual processing of faulty channels;

4) Each shelf corresponds to a camera and an RFID reader. Through the reciprocating movement of placing the cage, the pregnancy status of the female rat is monitored. The camera transmits the image to the control room, and the computer in the control room and the observation of the management personnel Determine whether the female rat gives birth;

5) If a mouse is born, the RFID reader will reset the RFID storage information on the cage and reset the initial time to zero. When the mouse is born 6 days later, the control room will issue an instruction to the AGV handling robot to transport the corresponding cage. Go to the mouse-changing workbench to perform the mouse-changing operation, and then change the counting time on the RFID on the corresponding cage through the RFID reader, so that the mouse-changing operation will be performed again after a week;

6) When the mice were born 15 days later, the control room issued an instruction to the AGV handling robot to transport the sexually mature mice and their cages from the cage, and transport the cages to the mice through the reproductive processing channel. Gender identification and sorting workshop, proceed to the next step.

Optionally, the workshop for gender identification and sorting in the step 6) includes:

an expelling platform for expelling the rats and mice from the cage on the expelling platform;

The experimental mouse classification slide, which is connected with the driving platform, is used to slide down the rats and mice and separate them into independent individuals;

A linear array industrial camera, located below the classification slide of the experimental mouse, is used to capture the abdominal image of the rat and the mouse, and call the image processing algorithm to calculate the distance between the genitals and the anus of the rat and the mouse, and identify the gender and body size of the rat and mouse;

The experimental mouse pipeline is connected with the experimental mouse classification slideway, and is used for sending experimental mice of different genders and sizes into the experimental mouse sorting area.

Further, a plurality of channels are provided at the end of the classification slide for the experimental mouse, and each channel can only accommodate the passage of a large mouse. The image processing algorithm measures the distance between the genitals and the anus of rats and mice;

A rotating mechanism is provided at the connection between the experimental mouse pipeline and the experimental mouse classification slideway, which is used to drive the experimental mouse pipeline to move and connect with the corresponding channel.

Optionally, the mouse-changing workbench in step 3) includes a docking and separating device installed on the front and rear sides of the workbench and symmetrically arranged, and a first robotic arm located on the left and right sides of the workbench; A second mechanical arm is provided, and the second mechanical arm is provided with an electromagnet for moving the cage door of the new cage and the old cage in the up-down direction;

A material feeding vibration motor and a water feeding motor are arranged above the worktable for feeding and supplying food and water to the new cage, and a material box and a water tank are respectively placed above the feeding vibration motor and the water feeding motor.

Further, the cage includes a cage body composed of a cage side wall, a cage rear wall and a cage lower wall, the front side of the cage body is provided with a cage door; the cage body is provided with a cage door. A mesh baffle plate that moves in the direction of the cage door along the rear wall of the cage, the mesh baffle divides the interior of the cage body into a living area for mice and mice and a food supply area; the lower wall of the cage is from the top A separate laminated plate composed of a plate and a lower plate, and the lower plate is fixed, and the bottom of one side of the upper plate is rotatably connected to the side wall of the cage through a rotating shaft.

Optionally, two pulleys and two sliding blocks are installed on the grid baffle, wherein two pulleys are installed above both sides of the grid baffle, and two sliding blocks are installed on the grid baffle Below both sides of the cage body; upper pulley rails for the pulley to slide are provided on both sides of the top of the cage body, and the upper pulley rails are fixed to the side walls of the cage by screws; Lower track for block movement.

Implementing the automatic method for breeding female mice during pregnancy of the present invention has the following beneficial effects: the automatic method for breeding female mice during pregnancy utilizes infrared heat-sensing technology to automatically identify dead female mice, and promptly notify breeders to quickly deal with them , It can automatically replace the breeding cage of the female mouse, and use the AGV handling robot to replace the cage that needs to be replaced on the mouse changing workbench; It can automatically put food and water quantitatively, and return the newly replaced cages to the shelves; the invention applies technologies such as image processing and automatic cage changing to the automatic breeding process of pregnant female mice, which reduces the artificial breeding process. Interfering factors greatly reduce the external stimulation to the breeding of experimental mice, and can breed experimental young mice with better quality.

The above description is only an overview of the technical solutions of the present invention, in order to be able to understand the technical means of the present invention more clearly, it can be implemented according to the content of the description, and in order to make the above and other purposes, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand , the following detailed description is given in conjunction with the preferred embodiments and in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Description of drawings

The present invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the embodiments in the accompanying drawings do not constitute any limitation to the present invention.

Fig. 1 is the three-dimensional schematic diagram of the automatic pregnant female mouse breeding system used in the method of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is the front view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is the left side view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is the top view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is the structural representation of the workshop of gender identification and sorting of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the structure of the mouse changing workbench of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. As a part of the present specification, the principles of the present invention will be illustrated by examples. Other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description. In the figures to which reference is made, the same reference numerals are used for the same or similar parts in different figures. In order to make the present invention easier to understand, specific embodiments of the present invention will be further described below.

As shown in Figures 1-6, the automated method for breeding female mice during pregnancy of the present invention includes a shelf 5, a cage 2 for raising female mice during pregnancy in the shelf 5, an AGV handling robot 4, and a mouse-changing workbench 6 , the fault channel 8, the reproductive processing channel 9 and the control room 10, the AGV handling robot 4 is provided with an infrared sensing device for determining the survival state of the female mouse, and its method includes the following steps:

1) RFID is set on each cage, and the RFID stores information such as the cage number, the position of the cage where the cage is located, and the initial time when the cage is just put on the cage;

2) When the RFID counting time reaches one week, the AGV handling robot will remove the corresponding cage from the shelf and transport it to the mouse changing workbench;

3) During the process of transporting to the mouse-changing workbench, the infrared sensing device on the AGV handling robot will determine the survival status of the female mouse. Manual processing of faulty channels;

4) Each shelf corresponds to a camera and an RFID reader. Through the reciprocating movement of placing the cage, the pregnancy status of the female rat is monitored. The camera transmits the image to the control room, and the computer in the control room and the observation of the management personnel Determine whether the female rat gives birth;

5) If a mouse is born, the RFID reader will reset the RFID storage information on the cage and reset the initial time to zero. When the mouse is born 6 days later, the control room will issue an instruction to the AGV handling robot to transport the corresponding cage. Go to the mouse-changing workbench to perform the mouse-changing operation, and then change the counting time on the RFID on the corresponding cage through the RFID reader, so that the mouse-changing operation will be performed again after a week;

6) When the mice were born 15 days later, the control room issued an instruction to the AGV handling robot to transport the sexually mature mice and their cages from the cage, and transport the cages to the mice through the reproductive processing channel. Gender identification and sorting workshop, proceed to the next step.

All of the above processes are carried out in a sterile barrier indoor environment.

The gender identification and sorting workshop in step 6) of the present invention includes a laboratory rat sorting chute 111 made of special materials, a linear array industrial camera 12, a linear array light source 13, a laboratory rat pipeline 14, and a laboratory rat sorting The area 15 , the AGV handling robot 16 , the driving platform 17 , and the rotating mechanism 18 , the AGV handling robot 16 transports the cages with rats and mice to the driving platform 17 . The expelling platform 17 is used for expelling the rats and mice from the cages on the expelling platform 17 , and the experimental mouse classification slideway 11 is connected to the expelling platform 17 for sliding down the rats and mice and separating them into independent individuals. The line array industrial camera 12 is located below the experimental mouse classification chute 11, and is used to measure the distance between the genitals and the anus of the rat and to identify the gender and size of the rat. The laboratory mouse pipeline 14 is connected with the laboratory mouse sorting chute 11 , and is used for sending rats of different genders and sizes into the laboratory mouse sorting area 15 . The end of the experimental mouse classification slideway 11 is provided with a plurality of channels, and each channel can only accommodate the size of a large mouse to pass through. When the experimental mouse is in the channel, the linear array industrial camera 12 works to measure the size. Distance between rat genitals and anus. A rotating mechanism 18 is provided at the connection between the laboratory mouse pipeline 14 and the laboratory mouse classification slideway 11 , which is used to drive the laboratory mouse pipeline 14 to move and connect with the corresponding channel. A line array light source 13 used in conjunction with the line array industrial camera is arranged below the channel.

The cages with surviving rats and mice are transported to the driving platform 17 for mechanized automatic driving. After the mice are successfully driven out of the cages, the AGV handling robot 16 moves the empty cages off the driving platform 17. After the mice leave the cages Immediately enter the experimental mouse classification chute 11 made of special materials, and the experimental mouse classification chute 11 is made of transparent material. The experimental mice can only slide down in the manufactured experimental mouse classification chute 11. Due to the material and the angle of the chute, the experimental mice cannot crawl up and in the opposite direction. Considering that the experimental mice may clump together during the driving process , after the experimental mice glide for a period of time, the grouped experimental mice are separated into independent individuals. At the end of the experimental mouse classification slide 11, there are multiple channels, and the channels can only accommodate the width of a large mouse. When the rat is in the channel, the line array industrial camera 12 works to measure the distance between the genitals and the anus of the rat and the mouse, and reflects the data to the next process in real time. The pipes 14 of the experimental mice are connected by rigid materials. The rigid material is connected to the rotating mechanism 18. After identifying the gender and size of the experimental mouse, the rotating mechanism 18 drives the pipe 14 to move, and the experimental mouse enters the experimental mouse sorting area 15 through the pipe 14 corresponding to the gender and size. Enter the pipe 14 of the male mouse, the female mouse enters the pipe 14 of the female mouse, and the individual large female mouse enters the pipe 14 corresponding to the female mouse. At this point, the automatic sorting and identification process of experimental mice is over.

The cage 2 of the present invention includes a cage body composed of a cage side wall, a cage rear wall and a cage lower wall, the front side of the cage body is provided with a cage door; The rear wall of the cage moves towards the direction of the cage door. The grid baffle divides the interior of the cage body into a living area for mice and mice and a food supply area. A separate laminated board composed of a lower board, and the lower board is fixed, and the bottom of one side of the upper board is rotatably connected with the side wall of the cage through a rotating shaft. Two pulleys and two sliding blocks are installed on the grid baffle, wherein two pulleys are installed above both sides of the grid baffle, and two sliding blocks are installed below both sides of the grid baffle There are upper pulley tracks on both sides of the top of the cage body for the pulley to slide, and the upper pulley tracks are fixed to the side walls of the cage through screws; track. A mesh baffle is used to divide the interior of the cage into a living area for mice and mice and a food supply area. The pulleys and sliding blocks on the mesh baffle pass the upper pulley track and the lower track respectively to make the mesh baffle along the rear wall of the cage. Moving in the cage towards the door of the cage can drive or push the mice in the old cage to the new cage.

The rat-changing workbench 6 of the present invention has the function of docking and separating the cages, and cooperating with the cages to complete the rat-changing steps. There are two types of manipulators with different functions that cooperate with the cages to complete the rat-changing process. Specifically, the rat-changing workbench 6. It includes a docking and separating device 61 installed on the front and rear sides of the workbench and symmetrically arranged, and a first mechanical arm 62 located on the left and right sides of the workbench. A second mechanical arm 63 is also provided above the workbench. There is an electromagnet on the robotic arm 63 for moving the cage door of the new cage and the old cage in the up and down direction, and above the worktable is provided with a feeding vibration motor and a water feeding motor for feeding and watering the new cage. , a material box and a water tank are respectively placed above the feeding vibration motor and the water feeding motor. A feeding motor and a water feeding motor are respectively placed on the material box and the water tank. The first mechanical arm 62 is used to move the electrified electromagnet slowly, and the mesh baffle in the old cage is slowly pushed forward by magnetic force, and the mesh baffle is driven externally to move slowly along the rear wall of the cage towards the cage door. Drive or push the mice in the old cages into the new cages, and feed and supply water to the new cages through the feeding motor and the water feeding motor, the feeding vibration motor and the water feeding motor, and complete the replacement of the old and new cages through the docking separation device. Cage operation, when changing cages, the work of adding drinking water is carried out at the same time.

The automatic method for breeding female mice during pregnancy of the present invention utilizes infrared heat-sensing technology to automatically identify dead female mice, and promptly informs the breeder to deal with them quickly, and can automatically replace the breeding cages for female mice. The replaced cages are replaced on the rat-changing workbench; the rat-changing workbench has the function of connecting the two cages and cooperating with the designed cages to complete the operation of vacating the cage and replacing the rat. The cage is returned to the shelf; the technology of image processing and automatic cage changing is applied to the automatic breeding process of pregnant female mice, which reduces the interference factors in the artificial breeding process, greatly reduces the external stimulation to the breeding of experimental mice, and can Breed experimental mice with better quality.

Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and not to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Although the present invention is described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that, The technical solutions of the present invention may be modified or equivalently replaced without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present invention.

Claims (6)

1. An automatic pregnant female mouse breeding method is characterized by comprising a cage, a cage for breeding pregnant female mice, an AGV transfer robot, a mouse changing workbench, a fault passage and a control room, wherein the cage is arranged on the cage, and the method comprises the following steps:

1) arranging an RFID (radio frequency identification device) on each cage, wherein the RFID stores information such as a cage number, a cage position where the cage is located, initial time when the cage is just placed on the cage and the like;

2) when the RFID counting time reaches one week, the AGV transfer robot takes the corresponding cage down from the goods shelf and transports the cage to the mouse changing workbench;

3) in the process of transporting the mice to the mouse changing workbench, the survival state of the mice is judged through infrared sensing equipment on an AGV transporting robot, if the mice survive, the mice are transported to the mouse changing workbench to carry out mouse changing operation, otherwise, the mice are transported to a fault channel to carry out manual treatment;

4) each layer of shelf corresponds to one camera and an RFID reader-writer, the pregnancy condition of the female mouse is monitored through the reciprocating motion of the cage, the camera transmits images to a control room, and whether the female mouse gives birth or not is judged through the observation of a computer and management personnel in the control room;

5) if a mouse is born, resetting RFID storage information on the cage by an RFID reader-writer, resetting initial time, sending an instruction to an AGV carrying robot by a control room after the mouse is born for 6 days, carrying the corresponding cage to a mouse changing workbench for mouse changing operation, and changing the counting time on the RFID on the corresponding cage by the RFID reader-writer for mouse changing operation again after one week;

6) after the mouse is born for 15 days, the control room sends an instruction to the AGV carrying robot, the mouse in the sexual maturity stage and the cage are carried off from the cage, and the cage is carried to a workshop for sex identification and sorting of the mouse through a reproductive processing channel for the next operation.

2. The method for automated breeding of pregnant dams according to claim 1, wherein the work room for gender identification and sorting in step 6) comprises:

the driving platform is used for driving out the big and small mice in the cage on the driving platform;

the experimental mouse classification slide way is connected with the driving platform and is used for sliding the big and small mice downwards and separating the big and small mice into independent individuals;

the linear array industrial camera is positioned below the experimental mouse classification slideway and used for shooting abdomen images of large and small mice, calculating the distance between the genitals and the anus of the large and small mice through an image processing algorithm and distinguishing the sex and the body size of the large and small mice according to the distance;

and the experimental mouse pipeline is connected with the experimental mouse classification slide way and is used for conveying experimental mice with different sexes and body sizes into an experimental mouse sorting area.

3. The automatic breeding method for the pregnant female mouse as claimed in claim 2, wherein the tail end of the laboratory mouse sorting slide way is provided with a plurality of channels, each channel can only accommodate a large mouse and a small mouse to pass through, the linear array industrial camera works during the period that the laboratory mouse is in the channel, and the distance between the genitals and the anus of the large mouse and the distance between the genitals and the anus of the small mouse are measured by calling an image processing algorithm;

the joint of the experimental mouse pipeline and the classified slideway of the experimental mouse is provided with a rotating mechanism for driving the experimental mouse pipeline to move and butt joint with the corresponding channel.

4. The automatic breeding method for pregnant female mice as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mouse changing workbench in step 3) comprises a docking and separating device, a first mechanical arm and a second mechanical arm, wherein the docking and separating device is mounted at the front side and the rear side of the workbench and is symmetrically arranged; a second mechanical arm is further arranged above the workbench, and an electromagnet is arranged on the second mechanical arm and used for moving the cage doors of the new cage and the old cage in the vertical direction;

and a feeding vibration motor and a water feeding motor which are used for feeding and supplying water to the new cage are arranged above the workbench, and a material box and a water tank are respectively arranged above the feeding vibration motor and the water feeding motor.

5. The automatic breeding method for pregnant female mice as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cage comprises a cage body consisting of a cage side wall, a cage rear wall and a cage lower wall, and a cage door is arranged on the front side of the cage body; the cage body is internally provided with a grid baffle plate which moves towards the direction of a cage door along the rear wall of the cage, and the grid baffle plate divides the interior of the cage body into a rat living area and a food supply area; the lower wall of the cage is a separated laminated plate consisting of an upper plate and a lower plate, the lower plate is fixed, and the bottom of one side of the upper plate is rotatably connected with the side wall of the cage through a rotating shaft.

6. The automated pregnancy female mouse breeding method as claimed in claim 5, wherein two pulleys and two sliding blocks are mounted on the grid baffle plate, wherein the two pulleys are mounted above two sides of the grid baffle plate, and the two sliding blocks are mounted below two sides of the grid baffle plate; the two sides of the top of the cage body are provided with upper pulley rails for the pulleys to slide, and the upper pulley rails are fixed on the side walls of the cage through screws; and a lower rail for the sliding block to move is arranged on the upper plate.

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