Automated photo-aligned liquid crystal elastomer film fabrication with a low-tech, home-built robotic workstation.

ABSTRACT: Laboratory procedures are often considered so unique that automating them is not economically justified - time and resources invested in designing, building and calibrating the machines are unlikely to pay off. This is particularly true if cheap labour force (technicians or students) is available. Yet, with increasing availability and dropping prices of many off-the-shelf components such as motorised stages, grippers, light sources (LEDs and lasers), detectors (high resolution, fast cameras), as well as user-friendly programmable microprocessors, many of the repeatable tasks may soon be within reach of either custom-built or universal lab robots. Building on our previous work on fabrication, characterization and applications of light-responsive liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) in micro-rob

SUBMITTER: Grabowski P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9584969 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature