Week 3 HW: Lab Automation
Do Your Homework!!!
Links to Final Project Slides
Automation Reading Review:
Forget the Opentron, it’s time for cranes, planes, and Agricutural Automation! Seriously though, not to hack on the Opentron, what an amazing tool for working in the lab. But let’s not forget about the outdoor living lab which is part of arguably one of the most important industries, Agriculture. The scale of an agricultural system can range from a backyard garden to industrial complexes spanning thousands of hectares. How can automation help manage systems across the scales of indusrty which ultimately translates into what does or doesn’t end up in our shopping carts?
Essentially, this article draws into focus many of the gaps which exist between actors working with biotech. As the pace of technology grows and areas of specialization become more specific - in terms of applications, economics, reqiured rescources etc. - a system of governance should be codeveloped between stakeholders, policymakers, and consumers alike to ensure that a reliable and equitable framework grows with industries as they develop. This is especially important to ensure that new research has a way to interact with development and implimentation within the overall framework of a rapidly transforming environment.
Citation:
Hoffmann, M., Chen, C., Butterbach-Bahl, K. et al. Advancing sustainable agricultural transformation through the synergy of automated experimental platforms and living labs. Nat Commun 16, 8418 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-64450-7
Opentron Demo
Colab code for points genreated by the Ronan simulator:
First design for Opentron
I’m not happy with this design, I quickly produced it as I was more concerned about the coding aspect of Colab. As a result, I never uploaded the design because I thought I would revisit it when I caught up with the homework. I never really caught up. This is interesting though because my experience with the class up to this point (week 7) has me reconsidering what my goals are for the final project. The opentron, and bacterial based imagery seems more approachable than my original goal of modifying a cynobacteria to exhibit color shifts by introducing a plasmid. I feel that plasmid design is not going to fall within the scope of what I can actually accomplish within this course. The learning curve is very steep given the amount of time relative to my level of experience.
