The Boyce Thompson Institute, located on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca New York, recently purchased an Automated Phenotyping Platform from WPS. The platform will be used to control a wide range of plant experiments, completely automatic. By expanding its facilities with this system, BTI takes another step in pursuing its goals of “increasing food security, improving environmental sustainability in agriculture and making basic discoveries that will enhance human health.”
High tech sensors
Scaling up plant research and simultaneously improving data quality is a tough nut to crack. WPS tackled this challenge by developing Automated Phenotyping Platforms, which combine high tech sensors with reliable and accurate automation technology. These platforms are adopted by companies and organizations that wish to expand and improve accuracy and reliability in plant data, by maximizing their ability to control experiment variables. The Automated Phenotyping Platform typically contains:
- Buffer system.
- Plant carriers with RFID tags.
- Dark and light adaptation tunnel.
- Photosystem II, chlorophyll index, anthocyanin index and color imaging system.
- Top and side RGB imaging.
- Automatic watering and weighing unit.
- Conveyor belts to connect the different modules.
- Experiment control software.
Modular and flexible system design
With a modularized approach, WPS and its partners offer a considerable amount of flexibility in terms of system design, providing its customers with a tailor-made solution based on proven technology. This customer-oriented approach led BTI to favor WPS for the purchase of its Automated Phenotyping Platform.
For more information, please contact business manager Michael Meijler.
Partners
As a system integrator - specialized in the field of horticulture and phenotyping - WPS cooperates with partners like Phenovation, in order to co-create the perfect system and to offer its customers the best advice. Phenovation manufactures camera systems for imaging whole plants on chlorophyll fluorescence, multispectral, colour and green/red fluorescence protein, whereas WPS provides the logistics and the software to control the system.
