Fast Algorithm for High-Throughput Screening Scheduling Based on the PERT/CPM Project Management Technique

Abstract

High-throughput screening systems are robotic cells that automatically scan and analyze thousands of biochemical samples and reagents in real time. The problem under consideration is to find an optimal cyclic schedule of robot moves that ensures maximum cell performance. To address this issue, we proposed a new efficient version of the parametric PERT/CPM project management method that works in conjunction with a combinatorial subalgorithm capable of rejecting unfeasible schedules. The main result obtained is that the new fast PERT/CPM method finds optimal robust schedules for solving large size problems in strongly polynomial time, which cannot be achieved using existing algorithms.

Keywords

• cyclic robot scheduling
• high-throughput screening
• parametric PERT/CPM
• project management
• polynomial time algorithm