Table 1.

Modules of the Tissue Factory.

Module category	No.	Module name	Description
Transfer modules	M1	Transfer Module	Transferring articles from module to module.
Processing modules	M2	Cell Processing Module	Primary cells are isolated from a harvested tissue and subcultured. This module consists of a pipetting unit that handles liquid reagents, a unit that performs both enzymatic digestion and tissue shredding, and a centrifugal separation unit that collects liberated cells.
	M3	Seeding and Medium Change Module	Dispensing cell suspension into culture vessels or changing medium. This module consists of a unit that injects a specified amount of cell suspension or medium to each vessel from a temporal stock bottle, and an aspiration unit that removes the medium from culture vessels.
	M4	Gelatin Gel Preparation Module	Preparing a gelatin gel for stacking cell sheets. This module has a unit for heating and stirring the gelatin solution, a pipetting unit for pouring the gelatin solution into a mold, a cooling unit for solidifying the gelatin gel, and a unit for removing the gelatin gel from the mold.
	M5	Cell Sheet Stacking Module	Stacking up cell sheets into a multilayered construct using the gelatin gel by the method previously reported [21], [22]. This module has a unit to press the gelatin gel against a cell sheet while adjusting the temperature of the vessel.
Material loading modules	M6	Material Loading Module	Transferring materials from the Material Preparation Isolator to the Transfer Module.
Incubation modules	M7	Robotic Incubation Module	Incubate up to 60 cell culture vessels (6 racks of 10 vessels). Each vessel can be put in and retrieved by indicating an address from 60 possible positions.
	M8	Observation Incubator Module	An incubator equipped with a phase contrast microscope which enables observation while culturing cells.
	M9	Large Scale Culture Module	This module is a specially prepared incubator for culturing large amounts of cells at the order of 108 to 109 cells. Unlike other incubation modules, this module is not connected to Transfer Module, but cells are delivered as a cell suspension via tubing and bags.
Manual operation apparatus	M10	Material Preparation Isolator	Preparing materials by hand before starting automatic processes.