Future labs and formulation tests? Let the robot handle that…

An automated system to assist Syensqo research teams

Syensqo’s Home and Personal Care (HPC) and Agro labs in Paris have recently equipped themselves with a one-of-a-kind testing machine. Nicknamed ‘Syrup’ as a nod to the sticky nature of many of the products it handles, this fully automated platform will save researchers vast amounts of time.

Concretely speaking, Syrup is designed to uncap a vial containing a product that needs testing, check its viscosity and pH, take a picture, rinse the instruments, close the vial and store all the collected data without the intervention of a human being. A bulky piece of equipment measuring 2x3 meters, and unique in the world, Syrup was developed entirely in-house by the Automation team at Syensqo’s Laboratory of the Future (LOF) in Bordeaux - with help from the facilities and maintenance team in Aubervilliers, near Paris. The LOF, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2024, specializes in creating unique machines for the specific needs of the Group’s research teams.

Installing it at the lab in Aubervilliers was no small feat. “We had to conduct lots of tests and modifications onsite. One big challenge was getting the rinsing station right,” says Alexandra Farran, the Automation, Robotics and Instrumentation Engineer who designed Syrup (pictured above). “We hadn’t developed anything like it before, dealing with instruments with sometimes oily products on them that need to be rinsed. We installed Syrup in December 2023, and it has been functional since June of this year.”

Thanks to this piece of equipment, researchers will be able to dedicate their expertise to high value formulation design rather than spending time on repetitive characterizations.

Task automation combined with data compilation 

But what is the purpose of these tests? Take a hair care product formulation; before it can be tested on a real head of hair, for example at the hair salons Syensqo partners with, it needs to be fully vetted in lab conditions to make sure it doesn’t lose certain properties or separate with time, for example. “When we create formulations to demonstrate the properties of our ingredients to customers, we conduct so-called ‘stabilities’, meaning we store them at various temperatures for various amounts of time and monitor their behavior,” explains Ali Sahouane, Tech Support Coordinator for Home and Personal Care (HPC). “It’s very time consuming: there are constantly vials to move from one oven to another and measurements to make at precise times. We started wondering how we could automate these tasks, so we contacted the LOF.”

From there, conceiving Syrup was a collaborative effort between three three teams: HPC, Agro, and Automation and Robotics in the LOF in Bordeaux. (Syensqo runs four other Automation and Robotics labs, in Lyon, Shanghai and the US.) “We went to visit the team to study their analytical procedures and make sure the automation would be as identical as possible to their gestures,” says Alexandra. The machine also uses the exact same instruments as the lab staff.

Moreover, in a high standard safety environment, the platform has been specifically designed to bring some additional enhancements. “Thanks to the smart development carried out by the Automation and Robotics team, in collaboration with the Agro team, the system helps to reduce the exposure of researchers to chemicals. It also offers better water and waste management and integrates several technical safety steps throughout the process,” says Mélanie Mugnier, Project leader in the Agro team.

The ultimate output of all this is a mass of data, which is not only generated automatically, but also neatly standardized - another source of time saving. “Today, researchers often compile their data in separate spreadsheets that are difficult to consolidate,” says Ali. “A standardized format makes the data much easier to compare and therefore to valorize.”

With Syrup having so much to offer, it’s no surprise there’s already talk of replicating it at other labs. Similar machines could also be developed in the future for other businesses such as coatings. What’s more, Ali’s team has asked the LOF to work on the development of a new robot for other tests.