Engineers, Plant Biologists Automate Plant Transformation For Faster Discovery

ORNL's SMART Plant 1.0 system uses robotics and computer vision to accelerate plant transformation, boosting data for AI models.

Published on Feb. 20, 2026

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Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed the SMART Plant 1.0 system, which uses robotics and computer vision to automate the plant transformation process. This system can increase plant transformation efficiency by up to 100 times, while also generating large amounts of data to train AI models for faster gene function studies and agricultural innovations.

Why it matters

The SMART Plant 1.0 system addresses the growing global demand for faster genetic crop improvements by optimizing the plant transformation process, which is typically slow and labor-intensive. Automating this process not only increases throughput, but also generates high-quality data to advance predictive AI models that can further expedite gene function studies. This supports the development of new stress-tolerant plants for bioenergy, food crops, materials, chemicals, and critical minerals recovery - all of which are crucial for strengthening the U.S. bioeconomy.

The details

The SMART Plant 1.0 system uses robotics to replace the manual task of collecting, treating, and placing plant tissue samples for transformation. It robotically identifies, collects, and treats plant tissue, then places it on a nutrient blend to develop a cell mass that can form a new plant. This automation eliminates inconsistencies and biases in tissue selection and handling, improving reproducibility and enabling on-demand, autonomous plant transformation workflows.

  • The SMART Plant 1.0 system was successfully demonstrated in 2026.

The players

Alex Walters

A project collaborator from ORNL's Manufacturing Sciences Division who led the engineering systems work for the SMART Plant 1.0 platform.

Udaya Kalluri

The project lead for SMART Plant 1.0 from ORNL's Biosciences Division.

ORNL

The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where the SMART Plant 1.0 system was developed.

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What they’re saying

“The plant transformation process is typically a technician working with a hole punch or scissors to gather tissue, then placing it in several growing media over successive weeks and manually recording data by hand - resulting in a slow, labor-intensive process. We introduced robotic excision and manipulation of tissue samples using a vision-guided system. The result was the first of its kind automation workflow for plant bioscience and heralds a future where rapid, reliable and high-throughput plant genetic engineering becomes routine and scalable.”

— Alex Walters, Project collaborator, ORNL's Manufacturing Sciences Division (Mirage News)

“The SMART Plant projects represent a critical leap forward to meet the growing global demand for faster genetic crop improvements by optimizing transformation steps. The project also supports the scale of data generation needed to advance predictive AI models that can further expedite gene function studies for faster transformation, pushing forward agricultural innovations to bolster the U.S. bioeconomy.”

— Udaya Kalluri, Project lead, ORNL's Biosciences Division (Mirage News)

What’s next

The ORNL team is working on a next-generation system, SMART Plant 2.0, an automated plant transformation laboratory for the high-throughput production of transgenic plants and associated AI-quality data. SMART Plant 2.0 will collect molecular and plant trait data to enable autonomous experiments with continuously refined protocols and to enable cross-scale AI models.

The takeaway

The SMART Plant 1.0 system represents a significant advancement in plant biotechnology, automating a previously slow and labor-intensive process to dramatically increase throughput and data generation. This lays the groundwork for the development of new stress-tolerant plants that can bolster the U.S. bioeconomy, from bioenergy and food crops to new materials and chemicals.