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. 2024 Mar 28:18:e00524.
doi: 10.1016/j.ohx.2024.e00524. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Sequential Treatment Application Robot (STAR) for high-replication marine experimentation

I C Enochs  1 , N Soderberg  1   2 , A M Palacio-Castro  1   2 , K Eaton  1   2
Affiliations

Sequential Treatment Application Robot (STAR) for high-replication marine experimentation

I C Enochs et al. HardwareX. .

Abstract

Marine organisms are often subject to numerous anthropogenic stressors, resulting in widespread ecosystem degradation. Physiological responses to these stressors, however, are complicated by high biological variability, species-specific sensitivities, nonlinear relationships, and countless permutations of stressor combinations. Nevertheless, quantification of these relationships is paramount for parameterizing predictive tools and ultimately for effective management of marine resources. Multi-level, multi-stressor experimentation is therefore key, yet the high replication required has remained a logistical challenge and a financial barrier. To overcome these issues, we created an automated system for experimentation on marine organisms, the Sequential Treatment Application Robot (STAR). The system consists of a track-mounted robotic arm that sequentially applies precision treatments to independent aquaria via syringe and peristaltic pumps. The accuracy and precision were validated with dye and spectrophotometry, and stability was demonstrated by maintaining corals under treatment conditions for more than a month. The system is open source and scalable in that additional treatments and replicates may be added without incurring multiplicative costs. While STAR was designed for investigating the combined impacts of nutrients, warming, and disease on reef-building corals, it is highly customizable and may be used for experimentation involving a diverse array of treatments and species.

Keywords: Automation; Coral reefs; Marine experimentation; Multiple stressors; Robotics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Sequential Treatment Application Robot (STAR), applying unique experimental treatments to an array of beakers containing coral samples.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Renderings of the Sequential Treatment Application Robot (STAR) including A. The complete STAR system positioned in a four tank, 64 beaker setup; B. The doser housing with one syringe and two peristaltic pumps; C. The robotic arm, linear track, and tube routing system; D. The end effector with three injection tips; E. The stir system with individual beakers, fluid mixing injection ports, underlying stir plates, and controller box; F. cellular-enabled watchdog.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Diagram of electrical connections in the STAR system. The peristaltic pumps are controlled by motor drivers, connected to a computer through a CompactDAQ chassis. The robot arm and syringe pump are connected to the computer via ethernet and a serial/USB adapter, respectively. The cellular watchdog is connected to the computer through an additional USB connection.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Graphical representation of the software logic and communication of the STAR system. Dashed boxes denote software languages and blue text refers to the various programs or Python functions, each outlined as a solid box. Individual steps are in italics and communication across programs/functions is illustrated with light blue arrow. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Graphical user interface of the STAR system, showing six subpanels that are used to control the system, arm, watchdog, syringe, pumps, and treatment levels.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Measured concentrations (%) for each target concentration treatment over time. The 0 h collection was done on manually dosed treatments, while those at 24 and 36 h were produced by the STAR system.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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