用低成本机械臂实现15小时全自动酵母培养实验
RoboCulture: A Robotics Platform for Automated Biological Experimentation
- 用通用机械臂结合视觉与力反馈自动完成液体操作
- 15小时不间断运行，成功完成酵母培养全流程
- 适合需要高可靠性长时实验的生物科研团队
自动化生物实验仍面临挑战，需毫米级精度、多步骤长时间流程，且活体系统具有动态性。现有液体处理设备仅部分自动化，仍需人工干预装板、更换吸头和校准。工业级方案虽更自动但成本高、灵活性差。当前自主机器人研究尚未解决长期、易失败的生物实验需求。我们提出RoboCulture，一种低成本、灵活的机器人平台，采用通用机械臂自动执行关键生物任务。该平台可进行液体处理、与实验室设备交互，并利用计算机视觉基于光密度实时监测生长状态。我们展示了全程自主运行15小时的酵母培养实验，RoboCulture通过视觉与力反馈，结合模块化行为树框架，稳健地执行、监控和管理实验。视频演示见https://ac-rad.github.io/roboculture。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
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.
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