The 2023 World Intelligent Manufacturing Conference convened recently in Nanjing. “World’s Top Ten Scientific and Technological Advances in Intelligent Manufacturing in 2023” and “China’s Top Ten Scientific and Technological Advances in Intelligent Manufacturing in 2023” were officially announced at the meeting. The “Robot Technology and System for Precise Operation of Living Cells”, jointly developed by Nankai University, Shenzhen Research Institute of Nankai University, and Tianjin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, was ranked first among “China’s Top Ten Scientific and Technological Advances in Intelligent Manufacturing in 2023”. The project aims to realize automatic operation of live cells using robots in place of manual work, and is of great significance in agricultural breeding. It has been applied  in 14 enterprises and organizations in biomedicine, brain science research and other fields.

The third from the left is Professor Zhao Xin, the leader of the award-winning Nankai University team

In view of the urgent need of life sciences for the operation of living cells, the team led by Professor Zhao Xin of Nankai University carried out scientific research to develop precise positioning operation based on minimum force, precise minimally invasive operation based on minimum intracellular strain, and quantitative enucleation operation for minimum cytoplasm loss, and developed a robotic system for precise operation of living cells.

According to Zhao Xin, for the robotic precision positioning operation oriented to deformable objects, the team developed the method for invasive 3D morphological measurement of cells as well as the selection of the best contact positions, the robotic precise cell rotation method based on the minimum force, and the dynamic position drift modeling of the nucleus in response to problems such as the irregular shape of the cell surface, changes in the position of stress-deformed cells, and the drift of the target position caused by the movement of operating tool inside the cell. It has realized the precise positioning operation and improved the success rate of cell operation.

“For the robotic precision minimally invasive operation, the team developed an ultrasonic vibration microscopic cell penetration system driven by piezoelectric ceramics and a method for determining the optimal enucleation pressure in response to problems such as cell damage caused by penetration of operating tools into cells and the application of negative pressure to cells. This has achieved precise minimally invasive operation and improved the survival rate of cells after operation,” said Zhao Xin.

For the robotic quantitative enucleation operation, the team developed a enucleation method based on augmented reality, a quantitative enucleation method based on cell posture, a method for detecting velocity field of incremental cytoplasm in microtubules based on growth domain as well as a method for measuring the amount of enucleation in response to problems such as invisibility of genetic material for blind enucleation, cell posture affecting the amount of enucleation, and real-time detection of the amount of enucleation. This achieves the goal of full enucleation and reduction in the amount of enucleation, and improves the subsequent development competenceof cells.

The project provides an automated cell operating system for life science study and the promotion of achievements, and holds out great application value. The first batch of cloned sows bred by the robot system have been used for breeding and production. Upwards of 19,000 sows have been bred in 14 pig breeding units in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, generating economic benefits of over 130 million yuan. It offers original technology to remove bottlenecks in the breeding of original breeding pigs in China.

It is reported that China’s top ten scientific and technological advances in intelligent manufacturing are selected by the Intelligent Manufacturing Alliance of CAST Member Societies, which consists of 15 national first-level societies including Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society, Chinese Society of Automation, Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence, and Chinese Society of Micro-Nano Technology, as well as 16 enterprises, 12 scientific research institutes and 12 universities. In October 2023, the project “Robot Technology and System for Precise Operation of Living Cells” came first place for the overall score. Previously, the project won the Special Prize at the 2022 Tianjin Technological Invention Award.

（Edited and translated by Nankai News Team.)