Robotic Laboratory Automation

The development and patenting of the first industrial robot by Unimation, Inc. in 1961 initiated a technological revolution in robotics that, despite a few fits and starts, has largely paralleled advances in computing. In the last five years, manufacturers have marketed "modular" automation products that appear to be more attractive to clinical laboratories. The new automation modules are directed at specific laboratory functions, including, for example, separate modules for specimen centrifugation and aliquoting, specimen analysis, and post-analytical storage and retrieval. This article discusses the history and current state of the art in laboratory robotics.

[1]  R A Felder,et al.  Modular workcells: modern methods for laboratory automation. , 1998, Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry.

[2]  M L Rutherford,et al.  Recent trends in laboratory automation in the pharmaceutical industry. , 2001, Current opinion in drug discovery & development.

[3]  T Kageoka,et al.  Total laboratory automation in Japan. Past, present, and the future. , 1998, Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry.

[4]  S E Fineberg,et al.  Use of an automated device for alternative site blood glucose monitoring. , 2001, Diabetes care.

[5]  J C Boyd,et al.  Development of a robotic near patient testing laboratory. , 1995, Archives of pathology & laboratory medicine.

[6]  C D Hawker,et al.  Development of standards for laboratory automation. , 2000, Clinical chemistry.

[7]  R A Felder,et al.  Robotics and the changing face of the clinical laboratory. , 1996, Clinical chemistry.

[8]  S. A. Whalen,et al.  Laboratory automation: trajectory, technology, and tactics. , 2000, Clinical chemistry.

[9]  N. Tatsumi,et al.  A new direction in automated laboratory testing in Japan: five years of experience with total laboratory automation system management. , 1999, Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry.