Editing Laboratory robotics (section)

=== Biological laboratory robotics ===
[[File:Automated pipetting system using manual pipettes.jpg|thumb|right|An example of pipettes and microplates manipulated by an anthropomorphic robot (Andrew Alliance)]]
Biological and chemical samples, in either liquid or solid state, are stored in vials, plates or tubes. Often, they need to be frozen and/or sealed to avoid contamination or to retain their biological and/or chemical properties.  Specifically, the life science industry has standardized on a plate format, known as the [[microtiter plate]],<ref>{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Barsoum | first1 = I. S. 
| last2 = Awad | first2 = A. Y. 
| title = Microtiter plate agglutination test for Salmonella antibodies 
| journal = Applied Microbiology 
| volume = 23 
| issue = 2 
| pages = 425–426 
| year = 1972 
| doi = 10.1128/AEM.23.2.425-426.1972 
| pmid = 5017681 
| pmc = 380357
}}</ref> to store such samples.

The microtiter plate standard was formalized by the Society for Biomolecular Screening in 1996.<ref>"Microplate Standardization, Report 3"
submitted by T. Astle Journal of Biomolecular Screening (1996). Vol. 1 No. 4, pp 163-168.</ref>  It typically has 96, 384 or even 1536 sample wells arranged in a 2:3 rectangular matrix.  The standard governs well dimensions (e.g. diameter, spacing and depth) as well as plate properties (e.g. dimensions and rigidity).

A number of companies have developed robots to specifically handle SBS microplates.  Such robots may be liquid handlers which aspirates or dispenses liquid samples from and to these plates, or "plate movers" which transport them between instruments.

Other companies have pushed integration even further: on top of interfacing to the specific consumables used in biology, some robots (Andrew<ref>{{Citation 
  | title = hands-free use of pipettes
  | date = October 2012
  | url = http://www.andrewalliance.com
  | access-date = September 30, 2012}}</ref> by Andrew Alliance, see picture) have been designed with the capability of interfacing to volumetric pipettes used by biologists and technical staff. Essentially, all the manual activity of liquid handling can be performed automatically, allowing humans spending their time in more conceptual activities.

Instrument companies have designed [[plate reader]]s which can carry out detect specific biological, chemical or physical events in samples stored in these plates.  These readers typically use optical and/or [[computer vision]] techniques to evaluate the contents of the microtiter plate wells.

One of the first applications of robotics in biology was [[peptide]] and [[oligonucleotide synthesis]]. One early example is the [[polymerase chain reaction]] (PCR) which is able to amplify DNA strands using a [[thermal cycler]] to micromanage DNA synthesis by adjusting temperature using a pre-made computer program. Since then, automated synthesis has been applied to organic chemistry and expanded into three categories: '''reaction-block systems''', '''robot-arm systems''', and '''non-robotic fluidic systems'''.<ref>Nicholas W Hird [[Drug Discovery Today]], Volume 4, Issue 6, p.265-274 (1999) [https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1359-6446(99)01337-9]</ref> The primary objective of any automated workbench is high-throughput processes and cost reduction.<ref>David Cork, Tohru Sugawara. Laboratory Automation in the Chemical Industries. CRC Press, 2002.</ref> This allows a synthetic laboratory to operate with a fewer number of people working more efficiently.