RoboCulture: A Robotics Platform for Automated Biological Experimentation

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Angers, Kevin, Darvish, Kourosh, Yoshikawa, Naruki, Okhovatian, Sargol, Bannerman, Dawn, Yakavets, Ilya, Shkurti, Florian, Aspuru-Guzik, Alán, Radisic, Milica
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Angers, Kevin
Darvish, Kourosh
Yoshikawa, Naruki
Okhovatian, Sargol
Bannerman, Dawn
Yakavets, Ilya
Shkurti, Florian
Aspuru-Guzik, Alán
Radisic, Milica
author_facet Angers, Kevin
Darvish, Kourosh
Yoshikawa, Naruki
Okhovatian, Sargol
Bannerman, Dawn
Yakavets, Ilya
Shkurti, Florian
Aspuru-Guzik, Alán
Radisic, Milica
contents Automating biological experimentation remains challenging due to the need for millimeter-scale precision, long and multi-step experiments, and the dynamic nature of living systems. Current liquid handlers only partially automate workflows, requiring human intervention for plate loading, tip replacement, and calibration. Industrial solutions offer more automation but are costly and lack the flexibility needed in research settings. Meanwhile, research in autonomous robotics has yet to bridge the gap for long-duration, failure-sensitive biological experiments. We introduce RoboCulture, a cost-effective and flexible platform that uses a general-purpose robotic manipulator to automate key biological tasks. RoboCulture performs liquid handling, interacts with lab equipment, and leverages computer vision for real-time decisions using optical density-based growth monitoring. We demonstrate a fully autonomous 15-hour yeast culture experiment where RoboCulture uses vision and force feedback and a modular behavior tree framework to robustly execute, monitor, and manage experiments. Video demonstrations of RoboCulture can be found at https://ac-rad.github.io/roboculture.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_14941
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle RoboCulture: A Robotics Platform for Automated Biological Experimentation
Angers, Kevin
Darvish, Kourosh
Yoshikawa, Naruki
Okhovatian, Sargol
Bannerman, Dawn
Yakavets, Ilya
Shkurti, Florian
Aspuru-Guzik, Alán
Radisic, Milica
Robotics
Automating biological experimentation remains challenging due to the need for millimeter-scale precision, long and multi-step experiments, and the dynamic nature of living systems. Current liquid handlers only partially automate workflows, requiring human intervention for plate loading, tip replacement, and calibration. Industrial solutions offer more automation but are costly and lack the flexibility needed in research settings. Meanwhile, research in autonomous robotics has yet to bridge the gap for long-duration, failure-sensitive biological experiments. We introduce RoboCulture, a cost-effective and flexible platform that uses a general-purpose robotic manipulator to automate key biological tasks. RoboCulture performs liquid handling, interacts with lab equipment, and leverages computer vision for real-time decisions using optical density-based growth monitoring. We demonstrate a fully autonomous 15-hour yeast culture experiment where RoboCulture uses vision and force feedback and a modular behavior tree framework to robustly execute, monitor, and manage experiments. Video demonstrations of RoboCulture can be found at https://ac-rad.github.io/roboculture.
title RoboCulture: A Robotics Platform for Automated Biological Experimentation
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.14941