Robotics: a way to link the "islands of automation"

This article looks at what the natural evolution of robots can do for the clinical testing industry, from performing simple functions to becoming the prime labor force of the clinical laboratory. Until now, robots have been applied to instrument processes as somewhat of an upgrade to accomplish a variety of laboratory tasks. Over the next 10 years, however, robotics development will respond to the internal and external influences expected to challenge the industry. A limited supply of human workers and the increased demands of testing volumes and cost-effectiveness will herald a new phase of robotics to link, as well as develop, technological capabilities. Since science fiction was invented, robots have teased the imagination-alternately as mindless automatons or as clones of their inventors endowed with minds of their own. The appeal in the first case was the seemingly infinite capacity for performing menial tasks too boring, complex, or dangerous for mankind. The appeal in the second was the fantasy of artificial intelligence. In both cases, the fictional concept has become reality--and, by the 21st century, should even be commonplace. Financial encouragement of robotics development might even be a mission for laboratories themselves, as they prepare for potential competition from even more complex technology.