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Beckman Coulter Life Sciences partners with Automata to accelerate AI-ready laboratory automation

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Beckman Coulter Life Sciences and Automata have announced a strategic partnership that integrates Beckman Coulter Life Sciences liquid handling, genomic and cell analysis technologies with Automata’s AI-ready automation platform to enable faster, more consistent and more scalable experimentation for research organizations.

The collaboration brings together Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, a global leader in laboratory automation and innovation and a subsidiary of Danaher Corporation, and Automata, a London-based lab automation company modernizing how R&D laboratories design, execute and scale scientific workflows.

The partnership is part of a larger investment in which Danaher Ventures will participate in Automata’s Series C funding round and join the company’s board of directors, strengthening alignment and long-term support for joint innovation. [Read more…] about Beckman Coulter Life Sciences partners with Automata to accelerate AI-ready laboratory automation

Scientists at Penn and Michigan create ‘world’s smallest programmable, autonomous robots’

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Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan have created what they describe as “the world’s smallest fully programmable, autonomous robots”: microscopic swimming machines that can independently sense and respond to their surroundings, operate for months and cost just a penny each.

Barely visible to the naked eye, each robot measures about 200 by 300 by 50 micrometers, smaller than a grain of salt. Operating at the scale of many biological microorganisms, the robots could advance medicine by monitoring the health of individual cells and manufacturing by helping construct microscale devices.

Powered by light, the robots carry microscopic computers and can be programmed to move in complex patterns, sense local temperatures and adjust their paths accordingly. [Read more…] about Scientists at Penn and Michigan create ‘world’s smallest programmable, autonomous robots’

MIT and Stanford university researchers demonstrate vine-inspired robotic gripper that ‘gently lifts heavy and fragile objects’

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The new design could be adapted to assist the elderly, sort warehouse products, or unload heavy cargo.

In the horticultural world, some vines are especially grabby. As they grow, the woody tendrils can wrap around obstacles with enough force to pull down entire fences and trees.

Inspired by vines’ twisty tenacity, engineers at MIT and Stanford University have developed a robotic gripper that can snake around and lift a variety of objects, including a glass vase and a watermelon, offering a gentler approach compared to conventional gripper designs. A larger version of the robo-tendrils can also safely lift a human out of bed.

The new bot consists of a pressurized box, positioned near the target object, from which long, vine-like tubes inflate and grow, like socks being turned inside out. As they extend, the vines twist and coil around the object before continuing back toward the box, where they are automatically clamped in place and mechanically wound back up to gently lift the object in a soft, sling-like grasp. [Read more…] about MIT and Stanford university researchers demonstrate vine-inspired robotic gripper that ‘gently lifts heavy and fragile objects’

Pusan National University researchers use AI to create optimized engine components that ‘outperform human designs’

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In the new breakthrough, the machine learning technology helps create “32 percent more efficient hydraulic pumps”, say the researchers

The gerotor tooth profile is crucial for determining hydraulic system performance in automotive engineering. In a new development, researchers from Pusan National University, South Korea have leveraged conditional generative adversarial networks for machine learning-driven gerotor profile synthesis and optimization.

The novel approach has remarkably produced designs that outperform human efforts and lead to 32 percent more efficient hydraulic pumps, potentially revolutionizing the automotive industry.

Gerotor pumps for oil circulation and lubrication are crucial components in automotive and hydraulic systems. They possess a compact design, excellent flow rate per rotation, and high suction capability. [Read more…] about Pusan National University researchers use AI to create optimized engine components that ‘outperform human designs’

Beckman Coulter Life Sciences introduces new automated liquid handler

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Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, a Danaher company and a specialist in laboratory automation and innovation, says it is making liquid handling research “more accessible” with the launch of the Biomek i3 Benchtop Liquid Handler.

Purpose-built for low- to medium-throughput workflows, the Biomek i3 Benchtop Liquid Handler delivers powerful automation in a compact, cost-effective format. Its grid-based deck design includes 15 standard and 5 flex positions, enabling flexible configuration to accommodate a wide range of labware and protocols.

The instrument supports genomic applications such as synthetic biology, sequencing, epigenetics, gene expression, and high-throughput screening, as well as drug discovery workflows including cell-based assays, biochemical assays, ADME-Tox, and combination sequencing. [Read more…] about Beckman Coulter Life Sciences introduces new automated liquid handler

National Science Foundation funding brings ‘smarter and stronger’ advanced manufacturing

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The next revolution in manufacturing might come from a robotic arm that ‘prints like nature builds’

With funding from a three-year, $3.5 million National Science Foundation (NSF) Future Manufacturing Research Grant, a team at Virginia Tech is pioneering this new approach by using robotic arms to produce 3D-printed composite materials from multiple directions instead of laying them down in straight lines and flat layers.

The final printed product features engineered materials that bend and curve like the grains of wood in a tree to anticipate stresses, making them almost 10 times stronger than traditional 3D-printed material.

The three-year NSF grant funding the work is one of only seven awarded under the Future Manufacturing Research program, which supports research, education, and the training of a future workforce to create manufacturing capabilities that do not exist today. [Read more…] about National Science Foundation funding brings ‘smarter and stronger’ advanced manufacturing

Saving Hours Each Week With Automated Liquid Handling

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Walk into most research labs during midweek and you’ll find at least one person hunched over a bench, pipetting. They’ve been there since morning. By afternoon, their hand’s cramping, and they’ve still got another hour of the same repetitive motion ahead of them.

This scene plays out daily in laboratories worldwide, and it’s costing more than just physical discomfort. Those hours spent transferring liquids manually? That’s time researchers could be analysing data, designing better experiments, or tackling that grant proposal that keeps getting pushed to next week.

Manual pipetting doesn’t just slow things down. It actively prevents scientists from doing the thinking work they’re actually trained for, the work that moves research forward. [Read more…] about Saving Hours Each Week With Automated Liquid Handling

NitroScope project launches in Ghent to map and manage Europe’s farm nitrogen flows

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Nitrogen is a cornerstone of agricultural productivity, yet its excessive use continues to harm soil health, water quality, and climate. To address this challenge, the NitroScope project officially kicked off with a two-day meeting at Ghent University.

The project aims to advance the quantification, management, and conservation of nitrogen fluxes across Europe, helping farmers and policymakers adopt more sustainable practices.

Achieving climate neutrality by 2050 is a central goal of the European Green Deal. However, soil-derived gaseous nitrogen emissions from agriculture are often overlooked due to challenges in monitoring. [Read more…] about NitroScope project launches in Ghent to map and manage Europe’s farm nitrogen flows

Allen Institute uses supercomputer Fugaku to create ‘one of the world’s most detailed virtual brain simulations’

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Scientists use supercomputer that can process quadrillions of calculations per second to simulate mouse cortex for ‘virtual experiments’

Harnessing the muscle of one of the world’s fastest supercomputers, researchers have built one of the largest and most detailed biophysically realistic brain simulations of an animal ever.

This virtual copy of a whole mouse cortex allows researchers to study the brain in a new way: simulating diseases like Alzheimer’s or epilepsy in the virtual world to watch in detail how damage spreads throughout neural networks or understanding cognition and consciousness.

It simulates both form and function, with almost 10 million neurons, 26 billion synapses, and 86 interconnected brain regions. [Read more…] about Allen Institute uses supercomputer Fugaku to create ‘one of the world’s most detailed virtual brain simulations’

Precision medicine: ETH demonstrates magnet-guided, robotic drug delivery

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Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a microrobot capable of transporting drugs to specific locations within the body, with the potential for use in hospitals in the near future. (See video below.)

Every year, 12 million people worldwide suffer a stroke; many die or are permanently impaired. Currently, drugs are administered to dissolve the thrombus that blocks the blood vessel.

These drugs spread throughout the entire body, meaning a high dose must be administered to ensure that the necessary amount reaches the thrombus.

This can cause serious side effects, such as internal bleeding. Since medicines are often only needed in specific areas of the body, medical research has long been searching for a way to use microrobots to deliver pharmaceuticals to where they need to be: in the case of a stroke, directly to the stroke-related thrombus. [Read more…] about Precision medicine: ETH demonstrates magnet-guided, robotic drug delivery