When you ask most in the laboratory industry about automation, robots come to mind. But this is increasingly too narrow a view of the trends occurring in laboratory automation. Labs of all sizes are recognizing that task-focused, automated equipment must be integrated and coupled with information technology (IT) solutions in order to create a comprehensive automated system. Cost constraints fueling demand for greater efficiency, shortages of qualified laboratory personnel, and quality improvement pressures including for more seamless transmission of laboratory results are all driving interest in lab automation. While system design will vary by laboratory, the “right” solution can better workflow, speed turnaround time (TAT), improve standardization and test quality, while accommodating future growth. Total laboratory automation solutions can be a daunting and expensive prospect. So smaller labs, with space and budgetary constraints, often instead implement a piecemeal strategy of modular automation with flexible benchtop or stand-alone solutions. Task-focused automation (like barcoding systems, spectrophotometric technologies for sample inspection, and robotic-assisted sorting, racking, centrifuging, and aliquoting) can reduce clinical laboratory errors associated with preanalytical and postanalytical processing of specimens. Such task-oriented automated solutions are most common in traditional chemistry and immunochemistry areas, but are expected to move into areas that have […]