Project 8: Salk Automated High- Throughput Image Acquisition of Roots

This project is sponsored by:

Currently, Salk Institution for Biological Studies scans their Petri plates manually. These Petri plates contain plant roots that have been exposed to different environmental conditions. Salk analyzes how different conditions affect plant root growth. Creating a fully automated machine for this process would allow the company to utilize its time wisely in other areas. This automated system would allow the company to have a greater quantity of accurate scans in shorter increments of time. The team this semester must implement greater mechanical elements to aid in the functionality of the system. This means better 3-D printed holders and grippers, fully mounted and functional light curtains, and a brand-new metal plate to hold all the plates among other items. These improvements will allow the team next semester to focus fully on coding and getting this system to a point where it can be sent to Salk and installed. 

Project Details

Problem Statement

Salk Institute needs a way to scan multiple plant root plates in a more efficient manner that does not require much human interaction. Salk will receive a fully capable robot that scans each plate at the press of a button and saves each scan.

Project Presentation Video

Project Demonstration Video

This project is sponsored by:

Currently, Salk Institution for Biological Studies scans their Petri plates manually. These Petri plates contain plant roots that have been exposed to different environmental conditions. Salk analyzes how different conditions affect plant root growth. Creating a fully automated machine for this process would allow the company to utilize its time wisely in other areas. This automated system would allow the company to have a greater quantity of accurate scans in shorter increments of time. The team this semester must implement greater mechanical elements to aid in the functionality of the system. This means better 3-D printed holders and grippers, fully mounted and functional light curtains, and a brand-new metal plate to hold all the plates among other items. These improvements will allow the team next semester to focus fully on coding and getting this system to a point where it can be sent to Salk and installed. 

Semester of Project: 

Spring 2022

Team Photo: 

Team Poster: 

Problem Statement/Summary: 

Salk Institute needs a way to scan multiple plant root plates in a more efficient manner that does not require much human interaction. Salk will receive a fully capable robot that scans each plate at the press of a button and saves each scan.

Project Department: 

SOET

Project Presentation Video Embed Code: 

Project Sponsor Website: 

https://www.salk.edu/

Project Sponsor: 

salk

Project Demo Video Embed Code: 

Team Contact: 

snaylor@purdue.edu