Jung Diane N, Shara Kailey E, Bruns Carson J
Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America.
ATLAS Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2025 Aug 12;20(8):e0326938. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0326938. eCollection 2025.
Laboratory equipment is critical for automating tasks in modern scientific research, but often limited by high costs, large footprints, and sustainability concerns. Emerging strategies to provide low-cost research automation tools include microfluidic devices, open-hardware devices, 3D printing, and LEGO® products. LEGO®-based equipment may be advantageous with respect to sustainability, since their inherent modularity enables disassembly, re-purposing and re-use. To explore the feasibility and cost savings of replacing conventional lab equipment with LEGO®-based alternatives, we developed and characterized the performance of three LEGO® TechnicTM laboratory tools: a syringe pump, an orbital shaker, and a microcentrifuge. These three machines share 384 pieces in common and can be constructed in series (687 pieces, <$83 USD) or in parallel (1215 pieces, <$174 USD). As a proof of concept, calcium carbonate microparticles were synthesized and isolated using the LEGO®-based and analogous commercial equipment, yielding comparatively similar results. Moreover, the ability to program custom shake profiles for the LEGO®-based orbital shaker gave access to a wider range of particle characteristics than the commercial shaker. We propose that the high cost savings and reusability of LEGO®-based lab tools extends beyond their well-established efficacy in K-12 STEM education to an attractive resource for budget-, space- and/or sustainability-conscious laboratories.
实验室设备对于现代科学研究中的任务自动化至关重要，但往往受到高成本、占地面积大以及可持续性问题的限制。提供低成本研究自动化工具的新兴策略包括微流控设备、开源硬件设备、3D打印和乐高®产品。基于乐高®的设备在可持续性方面可能具有优势，因为其固有的模块化特性使其能够拆卸、重新利用和再使用。为了探索用基于乐高®的替代品取代传统实验室设备的可行性和成本节约情况，我们开发并表征了三种乐高®TechnicTM实验室工具的性能：一个注射泵、一个轨道振荡器和一个微型离心机。这三台机器共有384个零件，可以串联构建（687个零件，低于83美元）或并联构建（1215个零件，低于174美元）。作为概念验证，使用基于乐高®的设备和类似的商业设备合成并分离了碳酸钙微粒，得到了比较相似的结果。此外，为基于乐高®的轨道振荡器编程自定义振荡曲线的能力，使得能够获得比商业振荡器更广泛的颗粒特性。我们认为，基于乐高®的实验室工具的高成本节约和可重复使用性，不仅在K-12科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教育中已确立的功效方面表现出色，对于注重预算、空间和/或可持续性的实验室来说，也是一种有吸引力的资源。
