One-of-a-kind robot on display at GLBRC open house at MSU

It can't move like R2-D2 or C-3PO, but the world's only biomass analysis robot, iWall, may help researchers in the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) at Michigan State University create biofuels more quickly and efficiently.

Markus Pauly (right), explains how the iWall works to Gov. Jennifer Granholm (center) and MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon at the GLBRC open house on Sept. 12.

The robot showed off its biomass grinding and dispensing skills to Gov. Granholm and MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon at the GLBRC open house on Sept. 12 in the MSU Conservatory.

iWall was designed and built to the specifications of Markus Pauly, MSU associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, by Labman Automation, a British company. Pauly, who leads the GLBRC analytic service group, studies plant cell walls and how they can be manipulated so they're easier to break down and convert into biofuels.

"This is the only machine in the world that can do what it does," Pauly said. "It's going to allow us to work faster and more accurately."

One goal of the GLBRC is to identify which Michigan native plants and trees yield large amounts of sugars that can be converted into biofuels. So a regular task for Pauly and almost all plant biochemists is assessing the molecules present in specific amounts of plant material. To do this, researchers must grind hundreds (sometimes thousands) of plant material samples into a fine powder with a mortar and pestle and then precisely measure the same small amount into test vials, a mind-numbing task that Pauly has to cajole his undergraduate students to do. The iWall has taken the tedium and imprecision out of the chore.

The iWall was designed and built to Pauly's specifications.

"The robot can grind, weigh and dispense 350 samples a day," Pauly explained. "To do the same amount of work, it takes two students two eight-hour days each -- and the results aren't as accurate and the students, understandably, aren't very motivated or happy. It's really the most boring part of the research.

"I started asking around to see if we could get a machine to do this and I was told that no machine existed," he continued. "The GLBRC grant allowed us to have this one built. It's going to be a great tool for all the GLBRC researchers and other MSU biochemists. The advantage is that it can do hundreds of different kinds of samples in one run."

The GLBRC is a partnership between MSU and the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is one of three Department of Energy (DOE) bioenergy research centers established in 2007. MSU's $50 million portion of the $125-million grant is being used for basic science research aimed at solving some of the most complex problems in converting renewable materials into energy. About half of the GLBRC research effort is being done at MSU.

The open house included exhibits and information on the structure and goals of the GLBRC and short presentations by MSU GLBRC faculty members and administrators.

For more information on the GLBRC, visit: www.greatlakesbioenergy.org/