System for identifying and picking spectrally distinct colonies

A system for identifying and isolating spectrally distinct colonies housed in a container, comprising:

• a detection system defining an optical path extending from a light source to a grayscale image detector;
• a spectral filter disposed in the optical path and configured to increase an intensity difference between a first type of colony and a spectrally distinct second type of colony, the spectral filter configured to be located under and in contact with the container housing the colonies;
• a stage to support a container containing colonies including the first type and the second type;
• a picking device;
• and
• a data processing system configured (i) to receive an image of the colonies obtained by the image detector, (ii) to identify at least one of the types of colony in the image, and (iii) to instruct the picking device to robotically pick one or more colonies of the at least one type identified.