I want to learn about Open Source Hardware and Robotics for science laboratories by which I mean not only hardware with open source software for operating it but hardware that has well documented parts for repair – open operating software and open blueprints, I guess.

I work in academic science, and I’d really like to automate my lab someday, but it seems most equipment gets dropped by the companies that make it after some time or the company goes out of business. While there are a few companies that have started making accessible APIs, most try to suck you into their ecosystem. Oh, and don’t get me started on the absolutely insane service contracts – 50k/yr for an evenings work and some parts. Maybe companies can pay for all that and an upgrade every five-to-ten years, but it’s not sustainable for academic labs. My boss repairs his own aktas, but I want to automate way more.

Ideally, I was hoping there might be some other scientists out there who can point me to things that might already have been done. I’d rather not re-invent the wheel unless I absolutely have to.

Alternatively, any advice on where to start learning this? It seems like many universities have “maker spaces” to work on proto-typing, and I think MIT’s “how to make almost anything” is on their open course catalog. Is there anything more lab focused?

  • KryptonBlur@slrpnk.netEnglish
    2·
    3 hours ago

    The OpenTrons OT-1 and OT-2 were entirely open source as far as I know, but I’m not sure about the flex.

    As other people have said OpenFlexure is great.

    The Pioreactor was working on becoming entirely open-source but I’m not sure if they’ve achieved it yet.

    Chi Bio is another open source bioreactor.

    Lots of great open source stuff has come out of Joshua M. Pearce’s lab, most (or maybe all?) of which is on appropedia

    Also if you’re interested in open science in the biology space it’s worth looking at amybo.org

    • tristynalxander@mander.xyzOPEnglish
      1·
      2 hours ago

      Yeah, I had seen the OT-2 before. I’m not sure it quite reaches the standard I’m looking for, but it might be the best I can hope for. The user manual seems to document a lot even if I’d like a more details on a lot of things. I’m certainly not paying 3k for a pipette and a subscription to over priced tips, but maybe someone has documented some mix of casting and 3D printing that to make a more sensible pipette. Ideally, we’d have open blueprints and repair manuals, but maybe there’s enough of a community around it to make it the best starting place.