ROBOTICS IN THE LABORATORY

Laboratory automation has long been an important area where chemistry and engineering have overlapped. Many automated processes now are routine in the laboratory; however, the apparatus that performs these tasks is usually rigid, being designed with only one use in mind. Laboratory robots are flexible automated systems and may well be the scientist's dream of the perfect laboratory technician. Useful laboratory robots are now a reality. This paper discusses the current state of laboratory robotics in chemistry as well as speculates on the advantages of robots in the future laboratory. The final section will present a project now under way in our research group to produce a flexible robotic system that will be able to design, implement, and evaluate its own analytical procedures.