Networking chemical robots for reaction multitasking

Abstract

The development of the internet of things has led to an explosion in the number of networked devices capable of control and computing. However, whilst common place in remote sensing, these approaches have not impacted chemistry due to difficulty in developing systems flexible enough for experimental data collection. Herein we present a simple and affordable (<$500) chemistry capable robot built with a standard set of hardware and software protocols that can be networked to coordinate many chemical experiments in real time. We demonstrate how multiple processes can be done with two internet-connected robots collaboratively, exploring a set of azo-coupling reactions in a fraction of time needed for a single robot, as well as encoding and decoding information into a network of oscillating reactions. The system can also be used to assess the reproducibility of chemical reactions and discover new reaction outcomes using game playing to explore a chemical space.

The Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life

“…Such a system may be too complex to be designed topdown by a synthetic biologist and may only be attainable via an accelerated bottom-up process of evolution. Perhaps this could be undertaken through the construction of an automated ''genesis engine'' based on a miniaturized network of chemical robots similar to those developed by Cronin and coworkers (Caramelli et al, 2018). Given the challenges and costs involved, a ''second genesis'' in the laboratory, long a theme of science fiction, will likely therefore remain a scientific fiction.…”

Chemical Robotics Enabled Exploration of Stability and Photoluminescent Behavior in Multicomponent Hybrid Perovskites via Machine Learning

“…36,37 GP is a general approach for determining the unknown function, f, from a set of Here, GP is used as a universal interpolator to convert the set of measurements in the chosen compositional space into the dense maps of functional responses. The GP interpolation is implemented using the GPim library 32 in Python. The visualization of functional behaviors in ternary diagrams is performed using the ternary library.…”

“…These works are mostly focused on the optimization of optoelectronic devices. The combinatorial approaches in materials synthesis using techniques as similar to pulsed laser, physical vapor, and chemical vapor depositions, etc., have been actively explored for over 20 years 31 . However, until now, solution-based combinatorial synthesis has been limited to custom design microfluidic or robotic manipulation systems 16,19,20,32 . Also, until recently, the limiting factors for combinatorial methods were the availability of high-throughput characterization techniques and machine learning tools that allow the characterization results to be integrated into the correlative models and further reduced to predictive physical laws.…”

Miniaturized and Automated Synthesis of Biomolecules—Overview and Perspectives

“…The resulting automated system was used to print polypropylene reaction vessels of differing internal volumes and subsequently make use of these fabricated vessels to synthesize the nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drug ibuprofen via a consecutive one‐pot three‐step approach . The same group could show some interesting examples to apply automated synthesis procedures to a parallel reaction mode . The development of a networked reaction station consisting of up to four simple and affordable (<$500) robots was demonstrated.…”