Mission

OmicBots aims to develop an automatic platform to integrate HTP low-cost robotics-assisted smart-photonics sensors, with artificial intelligence and systems biology (in-silico), where grapevine metabolic pathways can be explored, to better comprehend how field grapevine physiology/metabolism is driven by GxExM. This is crucial in viticulture, as the wine industry is highly dependent on specific metabolites’ signatures (e.g. flavonoids), which depend on GxExM. 

INESCTEC leads OmicBots’ engineering developments with 2 centres: CRIIS & CAP with expertise in robotics, photonic sensors, artificial intelligence, system biology and PV applications. FCUP (iB2Lab, REQUIMTE) has a long track record in integrative biology (e.g., transcriptomics and metabolomics) on agriculture. ADVID (CoLAB VINES & WINES) has remarkable importance in the grape-wine industry, and in collaboration with the stakeholders engaged with the project, will be a platform for dissemination/implementation of OmicBots’ results. OmicBots will provide to grape/wine industry innovative high-end PV technologies for high-quality, profitability eco-friendly grape production (case study: Douro/Porto-Wine terroirs, challenged by climate change), thus fully aligned with the EU Green Deal’/2030Agenda and UN-SDGs (2 & 12).