Welcome to the Topic Group Laboratory Robotics
The Laboratory is at the locus of innovation for research into new drugs, materials, leading to new products and economic growth. It supports highly skilled jobs and the creation of intellectual property. It accompanies much high value manufacturing. It also serves to protect our environment through sampling of our food, soil and water. It therefore plays an important role in addressing the challenges of an ageing population, sustainability, and many others. The TG works to build a link between lab users, suppliers of laboratory technology and the research community to harness advances to the make the lab a more producing, safe and rewarding environment.
The laboratory plays a central role in the development of new products, ensuring our safety and understanding our world – from the diagnosis of disease and the creation of new treatments in the life sciences, to the physical sciences and the development of new materials and environmental testing of our air, soil water and food.
The lab was an early adopter of robotic technology. Lab has sophisticated tools for handling liquids, precisely and reliably, and one where European companies are world leaders. However, most processes in the laboratory still include manual steps, which results in errors and delays.
The lab is becoming increasingly digital, especially with the rise of genomic analysis. There are many discussions around lab 4.0, the lab of the future and the smart lab, and some emerging technologies for inter-operability such as SiLA (Standards in Lab Automation).
Topic Group Purpose: The TG works to build a link between lab users, suppliers of laboratory technology and the research community to harness advances to the make the lab a more producing, safe and rewarding environment.
Activities
Workshops: We organise workshops at ELRIG, ERF and interact with the various communities via trade shows.
Roadmapping: The TG carried out roadmapping activity for the Laboratory Robotics, which will be incorporated in the euRobotics Roadmap to be shared with EU Commission. As part of the roadmapping activity, the TG coordinators interviewed researchers, end-users, technology providers as well as academics in life science, pharma and related communities to understand the current state-of-the-art, Capabilities and hurdles for adoption of robotics in the Laboratory. A summary white paper of the Laboratory Robotics roadmap is soon to be released