{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,28]],"date-time":"2026-10-28T14:17:42Z","timestamp":1793197062665,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,23]],"date-time":"2024-01-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1705968000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000936","name":"Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000936","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Laboratory automation can boost precision and reproducibility of science workflows. However, current laboratory automation systems are difficult to modify for custom applications. Automating new experiment workflows therefore requires development of one-off research platforms, a process which requires significant time, resources, and experience. In this work, we investigate systems to lower the threshold to automation for plant biologists. Our approach establishes a direct connection with a generic motion platform to support experiment development and execution from a computational notebook environment. Specifically, we investigate the use of the open-source tool-changing motion platform Jubilee controlled using Jupyter notebooks. We present the Duckbot, a machine customized for automating laboratory research workflows with duckweed, a common multicellular plant. The Duckbot comprises (1) a set of end-effectors relevant for plant biology, (2) software modules which provide flexible control of these tools, and (3) computational notebooks which make use of these tools to automate duckweed experiments. We demonstrate the Duckbot\u2019s functionality by automating a particular laboratory research workflow, namely, duckweed growth assays. The Duckbot supports setting up sample plates with duckweed and growth media, gathering image data, and conducting relevant data analysis. We discuss the opportunities and limitations for developing custom laboratory automation with this platform and provide instructions on usage and customization.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0296717","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,23]],"date-time":"2024-01-23T18:25:09Z","timestamp":1706034309000},"page":"e0296717","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["The Duckbot: A system for automated imaging and manipulation of duckweed"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1720-7211","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Blair","family":"Subbaraman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Orlando","family":"de Lange","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sam","family":"Ferguson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nadya","family":"Peek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0296717.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"571777","DOI":"10.3389\/fbioe.2020.571777","article-title":"Automation in the Life Science Research Laboratory","volume":"8","author":"I Holland","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front Bioeng Biotechnol"},{"key":"pone.0296717.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"432","DOI":"10.1177\/2472630318784506","article-title":"Achieving Reproducibility and Closed-Loop Automation in Biological Experimentation with an IoT-Enabled Lab of the Future","volume":"23","author":"B Miles","year":"2018","journal-title":"SLAS Technol"},{"key":"pone.0296717.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1474","DOI":"10.1021\/acssynbio.8b00540","article-title":"Opportunities at the Intersection of Synthetic Biology, Machine Learning, and Automation","volume":"8","author":"P Carbonell","year":"2019","journal-title":"ACS Synth Biol"},{"key":"pone.0296717.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"317","DOI":"10.1021\/sb300030d","article-title":"An end-to-end workflow for engineering of biological networks from high-level specifications","volume":"1","author":"J Beal","year":"2012","journal-title":"ACS Synth Biol"},{"key":"pone.0296717.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"169","DOI":"10.1177\/2211068211435302","article-title":"Automatic liquid handling for life science: a critical review of the current state of the art","volume":"17","author":"F Kong","year":"2012","journal-title":"J Lab Autom"},{"key":"pone.0296717.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.1145\/1138506.1138513","volume-title":"Proceedings of the 2006 international workshop on Global software development for the practitioner. 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