[Systematization of clinical laboratory--some problems caused from specimen transport through laboratory reports]

Through error and trials we have designed an ideal system for the clinical laboratory. Truly, it has been a very difficult task requiring our long-term experience working in the clinical laboratory. For example, if we purchase new examination equipment without any consideration or if we decide what type of equipment to introduce according to the common advice of the purchase committee of the hospital or the medical school, then we cannot design an ideal system of laboratory examinations and are forced to invest a large sum of money in vain. Moreover, the use of innumerable examination containers or test tubes which are disposable, can become a financial burden to the hospital. We have been trying to design a system of laboratory automation for more than ten years and have been successful in designing not only a specimen transport system using conveyer-belts but also various kinds of examination robotic systems. This report describes our own examples of designing a system of laboratory automation.