What To Consider When Automating Liquid Handling
If you are currently thinking about automating your liquid handling, it is best to look at your current manual processes to determine how and if it will be useful for you. Using automation software to improve your liquid handling can significantly streamline your workflow and improve manual procedures, but it helps first to have a reliable assay that you properly understand.
Using automation software, you can let robots take over some of the repetitive and tedious tasks that humans often spend copious amounts of time completing. When automating liquid handling, you should first determine what is essential.
As process automation software can improve reliability, decrease chances of human error, reduce costs, and create more time for data interpretation, you should outline which parts of your walkway could benefit most from automating liquid handling, while also preparing the walkway for a move to full automation in the future.
Robotic process automation software may be precisely what your lab needs right now, but you must be thinking about the future. If you want your lab infrastructure to accommodate changing needs, it should be modifiable and reconfigurable to adapt to your workflow needs at specific times.
Consider optimizing your lab areas using automation software for specific tasks like sample preparation and DNA extraction while keeping in mind how you will integrate these with larger, more extensive liquid handling systems in the future.
Process automation software can help you use your bench space to full capacity if you plan it correctly. If you have space below the bench that is currently not in use, consider a liquid automation system that will access this space along with other storage areas in your lab.
If you limit the reach of these robotic liquid handlers, you may have to pay more money in the future for alterations, should you reconfigure your space.
One thing that is often overlooked when installing systems for automating liquid handling is the ease of maintenance and service. You should make sure that technicians can easily access this space to eliminate the chance of workflow disruptions.
When using automation software to automate liquid handling, take your time considering the above-mentioned productivity factors, but don’t forget to consider how your lab-specific process may require different considerations. For example, you may want to think about how you might integrate plate readers and other peripheral devices.
If you are ready to automate your liquid handling system, contact Retisoft today. Our staff and experienced technicians can help you choose the best process automation software that will accommodate your lab-specific needs and workspace layout
