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DIY liquid handling robots for integrated STEM education and life science research

Automation has played a key role in improving the safety, accuracy, and efficiency of manufacturing and industrial processes and has the potential to greatly increase throughput in the life sciences. However, the lack of accessible entry-point automation hardware in life science research and STEM ed...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Li, Ethan, Lam, Amy T., Fuhrmann, Tamar, Erikson, Len, Wirth, Mike, Miller, Mark L., Blikstein, Paulo, Riedel-Kruse, Ingmar H.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9645590/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36350791
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275688
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author Li, Ethan
Lam, Amy T.
Fuhrmann, Tamar
Erikson, Len
Wirth, Mike
Miller, Mark L.
Blikstein, Paulo
Riedel-Kruse, Ingmar H.
author_facet Li, Ethan
Lam, Amy T.
Fuhrmann, Tamar
Erikson, Len
Wirth, Mike
Miller, Mark L.
Blikstein, Paulo
Riedel-Kruse, Ingmar H.
author_sort Li, Ethan
collection PubMed
description Automation has played a key role in improving the safety, accuracy, and efficiency of manufacturing and industrial processes and has the potential to greatly increase throughput in the life sciences. However, the lack of accessible entry-point automation hardware in life science research and STEM education hinders its widespread adoption and development for life science applications. Here we investigate the design of a low-cost (~$150) open-source DIY Arduino-controlled liquid handling robot (LHR) featuring plastic laser-cut parts. The robot moves in three axes with 0.5 mm accuracy and reliably dispenses liquid down to 20 μL. The open source, modular design allows for flexibility and easy modification. A block-based programming interface (Snap4Arduino) further extends the accessibility of this robot, encouraging adaptation and use by educators, hobbyists and beginner programmers. This robot was co-designed with teachers, and we detail the teachers’ feedback in the context of a qualitative study. We conclude that affordable and accessible LHRs similar to this one could provide a useful educational tool to be deployed in classrooms, and LHR-based curricula may encourage interest in STEM and effectively introduce automation technology to life science enthusiasts.
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spelling pubmed-96455902022-11-15 DIY liquid handling robots for integrated STEM education and life science research Li, Ethan Lam, Amy T. Fuhrmann, Tamar Erikson, Len Wirth, Mike Miller, Mark L. Blikstein, Paulo Riedel-Kruse, Ingmar H. PLoS One Research Article Automation has played a key role in improving the safety, accuracy, and efficiency of manufacturing and industrial processes and has the potential to greatly increase throughput in the life sciences. However, the lack of accessible entry-point automation hardware in life science research and STEM education hinders its widespread adoption and development for life science applications. Here we investigate the design of a low-cost (~$150) open-source DIY Arduino-controlled liquid handling robot (LHR) featuring plastic laser-cut parts. The robot moves in three axes with 0.5 mm accuracy and reliably dispenses liquid down to 20 μL. The open source, modular design allows for flexibility and easy modification. A block-based programming interface (Snap4Arduino) further extends the accessibility of this robot, encouraging adaptation and use by educators, hobbyists and beginner programmers. This robot was co-designed with teachers, and we detail the teachers’ feedback in the context of a qualitative study. We conclude that affordable and accessible LHRs similar to this one could provide a useful educational tool to be deployed in classrooms, and LHR-based curricula may encourage interest in STEM and effectively introduce automation technology to life science enthusiasts. Public Library of Science 2022-11-09 /pmc/articles/PMC9645590/ /pubmed/36350791 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275688 Text en © 2022 Li et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Li, Ethan
Lam, Amy T.
Fuhrmann, Tamar
Erikson, Len
Wirth, Mike
Miller, Mark L.
Blikstein, Paulo
Riedel-Kruse, Ingmar H.
DIY liquid handling robots for integrated STEM education and life science research
title DIY liquid handling robots for integrated STEM education and life science research
title_full DIY liquid handling robots for integrated STEM education and life science research
title_fullStr DIY liquid handling robots for integrated STEM education and life science research
title_full_unstemmed DIY liquid handling robots for integrated STEM education and life science research
title_short DIY liquid handling robots for integrated STEM education and life science research
title_sort diy liquid handling robots for integrated stem education and life science research
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9645590/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36350791
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275688
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