Dexterous robotic manipulation of alert adult Drosophila for high-content experimentation

Figure 1: A high-speed robot that uses real-time machine vision guidance to identify, capture and manipulate nonanesthetized adult flies

Joan Savall, Eric T. Ho, Cheng Huang, Jessica R. Maxey, and Mark J. Schnitzer. Nature Methods 12 (2015): 657–660.

Abstract

We present a robot that enables high-content studies of alert adult Drosophila by combining operations including gentle picking; translations and rotations; characterizations of fly phenotypes and behaviors; microdissection; or release. To illustrate, we assessed fly morphology, tracked odor-evoked locomotion, sorted flies by sex, and dissected the cuticle to image neural activity. The robot’s tireless capacity for precise manipulations enables a scalable platform for screening flies’ complex attributes and behavioral patterns.

Read paper in Nature Methods