3.1 Overview
A multi-faceted approach for acquiring and processing data in a low-cost and accessible manner is paramount towards predictive biology. Understanding the phenome to genome relationship requires discovering new genes through uncharacterized phenotypes (Figure 1a). Using several open source and commercial products, such as Allied Vision cameras and the hobbyist microcontroller Arduino, OPEN Leaf characterizes phenotypes at a macro and micro scale by quantifying growth by area and color of the whole plant and specific leaves. OPEN Leaf was designed to be affordable, accessible, and open source from the beginning. Images can be synced to the cloud service CyVerse to perform image processing. The communication platform Slack has integration for remote communication with the machine (Figure 1b).