Liquid Handling · 2020
EvoBot: An Open-Source, Modular, Liquid Handling Robot for Scientific Experiments
Commercial liquid handling robots are rarely appropriate when tasks change often, which is the case in the early stages of biochemical research. In order to address it, we have developed EvoBot, a liquid handling robot, which is open-source and employs a modular design.
Performance the paper reports
0 of 5- Motion—Motion accuracy: not reported
- Volume—Volumetric accuracy: not reported
- Viability—Cell viability: not reported
- Unattended—Unattended operation: not reported
- Standard—Standard compliance: not reported
The full text was read and states no figure for any of the five.
How hard this is to adopt
3.3 of 5, higher is easierEach score is shown against the range the other 59 builds actually occupy, because no criterion uses the full 1–5 scale. These describe how reproducible the build is, not how good the science is.
Resolution
3/1–51/5/20 mL syringe modules meet ISO 8655 (+/-8 uL systematic at 1 mL) and 5 uL droplets were dispensed but untested; the 100 uL module is unvalidated.
Throughput
5/2–5The head takes 11 independently driven modules (22 motors); 2-3 syringes plus a 4-liquid dispensing module were demonstrated, and nine MFCs were nurtured continuously for two months.
Parts sourcing
3/2–4Mix of common parts and custom/printed components.
Skill needed
4/2–4Build/operation described as low-skill or basic assembly.
Facilities needed
3/2–4Requires accessible but nontrivial lab/maker equipment.
Documentation
2/2–5Open build documentation is not clearly identified.
Validation effort
3/2–430-replicate gravimetric tests across three syringe sizes, two needle diameters and contact/non-contact modes, but only ISO 8655 spec compliance with no head-to-head device or manual benchmark.
Cycle time
3/1–4No timing comparison reported; only a qualitative remark that GUI-driven operation is slow compared with manual pipetting, plus a 180 mm/s head speed.
2 further criteria are recorded but not shown
- Application Level — scored 4 (75% of records share one value), so it cannot separate one build from another.
- Build Time (scored for only 6 of 60 records), so it cannot separate one build from another.
Both remain in the published dataset.
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Publication data
Matched by doi · retrieved 2026-07-21
Abstract
Commercial liquid handling robots are rarely appropriate when tasks change often, which is the case in the early stages of biochemical research. In order to address it, we have developed EvoBot, a liquid handling robot, which is open-source and employs a modular design. The combination of an open-source and a modular design is particularly powerful because functionality is divided into modules with simple, well-defined interfaces, hence customisation of modules is possible without detailed knowledge of the entire system. Furthermore, the modular design allows end-users to only produce and assemble the modules that are relevant for their specific application. Hence, time and money are not wasted on functionality that is not needed. Finally, modules can easily be reused. In this paper, we describe the EvoBot modular design and through scientific experiments such as basic liquid handling, nurturing of microbial fuel cells, and droplet chemotaxis experiments document how functionality is increased one module at a time with a significant amount of reuse. In addition to providing wet-labs with an extendible, open-source liquid handling robot, we also think that modularity is a key concept that is likely to be useful in other robots developed for scientific purposes.
Bibliographic details
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Topics and keywords
Funding
- H2020 Future and Emerging Technologies · 611640
Perspective and practical signals
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