Hoping to introduce some capabilities of professional labs into at-home bio and chemistry experiments, researchers at Stanford built automated pipetting systems out of the popular LEGO Mindstorms do-it-yourself robotic sets and a few plastic syringes. One of the robots can be built entirely from a single Mindstorms set, so the investment is reasonably moderate.
The team tried using these robots with school kids from different grade levels, demonstrating success in introducing them to a bit of serious lab technology. The LEGO robots are able to collect and dispense liquids with considerable precision, and they’re programmable so that different practical experiments can be performed.
The published study detailing the research in journal PLOS Biology includes a number of experiments, some of which naturally include sugar and yeast, that can be done at home using the robots.
Here’s a quick video showing off the capabilities of the LEGO lab robots:
Study in PLOS Biology: Liquid-handling Lego robots and experiments for STEM education and research…
Via: Stanford Medicine…