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Automation and Robotics Are Increasingly Prominent Features in the Laboratory Automation and robotics are increasingly prominent features in the laboratory. Freeing up scientists to be creative and transforming the working day for many individuals. a brief history 1875 1945 1961 1981 1993 2004 The earliest mention of Little progress was The world’s first Dr Masahide Sasaki Dr Rod Markin at the The NIH and 300 laboratory automation made until the dust industrial robotic arm opened the first fully University of Nebraska leaders in research in the chemical had settled after WW2 for factory automation automated laboratory Medical Center created and government literature is from 18751, when commercially was released by at the Kochi Medical one of the world’s first identified automation that’s 52 years before available automated Unimation, paving the school to make rapid automated clinical lab technology as crucial the first TV was equipment started to way for all automated and accurate blood management systems, in accelerating medical demonstrated!2 become much more robotics to follow. sampling a reality. tying together discovery and complex. Spotting a Others quickly followed computer processing improving health.5 demand, Washington and, within 10 years, with physical robotics. University was the first 72% of Japanese The original to teach students how national university LAB-InterLink system to operate automated hospitals had adopted consisted of multiple equipment. 3 lab automation.1 testing stages along 112 feet of conveyor belts and was capable of full sample prep, testing and archiving.4 state of the market now $ 3.92 bil $ 5.48 bil 2016 2021 This growth is set to be fuelled by:6 Miniaturization Lower reagent Government Growth in Staff shortages costs funding for emerging markets biotech and drug discovery the benefits Whilst increasing productivity by as much as 75% 75% Laboratory automation has been shown in peer-reviewed literature to reduce human errors by 50% 50% As such, automation presents an attractive solution for hitting tight deadlines and getting the most out of overstretched teams.7 turnaround time Implementing laboratory A drug discovery lab could automation systems has A genetic testing lab could reduce the process of shown to reduce the see testing times reduced designing, synthesizing sample turnaround time of by 50%.9 and screening a a clinical lab by up to compound from weeks to 30%.8 days.10 walk away time With so much to do in the lab, automation helps to eliminate tedious, time consuming tasks like the hand labelling of tubes. So you can spend more time working towards your goals! reduces repetitive injuries of people that pipette in continuous sessions of 1 hour or 90% more report hand pain.11 which is only 75 minutes per working day, are at much higher risk of hand and shoulder ailments.11 reduces costs Reagent savings One study showed that Labour by automating tissue They also found that This represents a sample processing they they could reduce the combined saving of could save 70% on amount of hands on time over $250,000 per reagents annually.12 by 50%.12 year.12 eliminate human error A study from Hofstra Differences in pipetting University revealed that between operators has the average cost of a lost been shown to be up to sample was $584 and 11.8% when handling 10 that sample tracking μL. Whilst an automated errors over a 4-month pipetting system can period totalled $20,000 keep errors below 2%, in losses.13 right down to 1 μL.14,15 the challenges of automation Flexibility Cost of Adoption Standardization The complex parameters of Integrating various automated your lab and the automation A Penn State study showed that the devices to increase flexibility and utility represents of the one system you’re hoping to initial cost of adopting automated acquire must be considered to greatest hurdles in lab automation. specimen preparation technology Numerous open source determine which system is in a typical clinical microbiology lab best for you. But, what if it all programming languages and changes? to be around $360,000. It would standards have been developed take over 3 and a half years to but, without proper consensus, It’s often difficult to plan for all recoup these costs through labour none have been widely adopted. eventualities so it can be safer costs savings.16 to stick with human scientists For laboratory automation systems to reach their full potential, vendors even if they’re slower and A huge investment for any lab! more prone to mistakes! must agree upon standards, both in the hardware as well as in the software.17 Adapting your methods Installation and Training Creating methods on automated implementation Good automation requires staff devices can be complicated and The initial installation of an with the ability to combine their lab often requires complex skills and problem solving with programming as well as a deep automation platform can be time technical know-how. You’ll need to understanding of the desired consuming and disruptive, train or hire an automation process. particularly when the system is specialist who can tweak and large and complex. adapt your automated systems to It’s also important to remember get the best return on your that the assay or protocol you’re Siemens automation experts investment. hoping to automate needs to estimate that it can take up to 6 work on the bench first. Without any willing volunteers in Automation alone is unlikely to months from those early stages to your lab, you’ll need to factor in the solve your problems.19 handing over to routine operation additional salary of an automation for a typical installation.20 specialist into your plans. Either that or you’ll be calling in the vendor company for help every time you need to make a change.19 the future NiCoLa-B The most advanced drug discovery robot in the world.21 Can test up to Can operate 24/7, 3x faster than Will support up to Can be remotely 300,000 365 days of the comparable 50 projects, operated via a compounds a day year systems covering 40 mobile app from million potential anywvhere in the drugs per year world Fully robotic scientists Engineers have created prototype robot scientists called Adam and Eve for fully autonomous scientific discovery. They are already able to: Generate a Design Run the physical Analyse and hypothesis from a experiments to experiments interpret the data computer model test these they generate hypotheses Adam’s first study consisted of 20 hypotheses on the identity of genes encoding 13 enzymes. The robot quickly confirmed the correctness of 12 of these through automated experimentation. Pretty impressive stuff!22 Collaborative robots As automation is utilized for more complex procedures, there is a need for better integration and human interaction. The robots of the future will: 23 Have more Use active force Learn from their Share information Learn and adhere human-like control to prevent operators and and protocols to SOPs and manipulation risk of harm detect problems between safety guidelines capabilities autonomously instruments, robots and users Open source robotics EvoBot an open-source lab robotics system, has been built with affordability in mind, with the aim of making automation available to poorly funded areas of research. It’s designed to be: 24 Reconfigurable Versatile Low cost Extendable Ease of use is key Flexibility is key for Achieved by using Additional to making the small laboratories off-the-shelf functionality can platform with limited components and easily be added by programmable resources open-source 3D adding new without expert help printing modules to your existing platform References 1. Olsen, K. (2012). The first 110 years of laboratory automation: technologies, applications, and the creative scientist. 14. Lippi, G., Lima-Oliveira, G., Brocco, G., Bassi, A., & Salvagno, G. L. (2016). Estimating the intra-and inter-individual Journal of laboratory automation, 17(6), 469-480. imprecision of manual pipetting. Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM). 2. History of Television from Groiler Encyclopaedia. Available at 15. Eppendorf epMotion® 96 product specifications. Available at https://www.nyu.edu/classes/stephens/History%20of%20Television%20page.htm (Accessed 9 May 2017). https://online-shop.eppendorf.com/OC-en/Automated-Pipetting-44509/Liquid-Handling-Workstations-44510/ep96-PF-91 3. Stout, L. E.; Ceaglske, N. H. Automatic Control Laboratory Installed at Washington University. Chem. Eng. News 1945, 449.html (Accessed 9 May 2017). 23(14), 1245 16. Estimating Return on Investment for Enhanced Automated Specimen Processing. Available at 4. Boyd, J. (2002). Robotic laboratory automation. Science, 295(5554), 517-518. https://tools.thermofisher.com/content/sfs/posters/WASP-Return-on-Investment-for-Automated-Specimen-Processing-i 5. NIH Roadmap and Roadmap-affiliated Initiatives, Available at n-the-Clinical-Lab-EN.pdf (Accessed 9 May 2017). https://www.niehs.nih.gov/funding/grants/announcements/roadmap/ (Accessed 9 May 2017). 17. The Importance of Standardization in Laboratory Automation. Available at 6. Lab Automation Market Report. Available at http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/lab-automation.asp http://www.sila-standard.org/documents/2015/01/white-paper-the-importance-of-standardization-in-laboratory-automat (Accessed 9 May 2017). ion.pdf (Accessed 9 May 2017). 7. Lab Automation and Productivity. Available at 18. Jones, E., Michael, S., & Sittampalam, G. S. (2016). Basics of assay equipment and instrumentation for high throughput http://laboratory-manager.advanceweb.com/lab-automation-and-productivity/ (Accessed 9 May 2017). screening. 8. Lam, C. W., & Jacob, E. (2012). Implementing a laboratory automation system: experience of a large clinical laboratory. 19. 11 key points to install and efficiently initiate a new automated assay system in your laboratory. Available at Journal of laboratory automation, 17(1), 16-23. http://www.tecan.com/blog/lab-automation-liquid-handling-system-robot (Accessed 9 May 2017).
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