The Analytical Laboratory Robotics Topic group (working group) of euRobotics is proud to announce the release of the next iteration of the roadmap for Analytical Laboratory Robotics in Europe entitled the “Research roadmap for laboratory community-Automating discovery: high throughput experimentation, diagnostics and robotics/AI”.

Robotics, and associated technologies such as computer vision, mechatronics and artificial intelligence are rapidly evolving. The laboratory remains an important place where new products are developed (new food, medicines and materials), diseases diagnosed (as we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic) and the safety of our air and water assured. The roadmap serves to bring together the needs and opportunities to the attention of the funders.

Taking input from well over 100 lab users, innovators, technology researchers, academics, vendors and startups, the roadmap builds on the previous edition, to guide research funding and build the roadmap for robotics in Europe.

Highlights of the roadmap include:

• the continued importance of digitisation in the laboratory and standards like SiLA
• factors contributing to the gap between research and market adoption of robotics
• the importance of intuitiveness when it comes to robotics in various labs
• future of robotics lies in collaboration between sectors, disciplines and borders
• the recent interest in the automation of science

Co-author Patrick Courtney commented “We were positively surprised by strong response to the workshops. This initiative clearly addresses a gap in community building and should help drive funding priorities”

While serving primarily the European Commission, it is hoped that the content will also serve national and regional initiatives. The draft document is necessarily incomplete, just a step on the journey to align policy-makers with users and technology innovators. The authors thank all contributors and invite feedback and involvement in developing the next iteration.

The roadmap will be formally launched during the Future Labs Live 2024 event at the Congress Centre Basel on Thursday 27th June at 15:45-16:15 (Room Kairo)

The roadmap builds on the keynote panel earlier on Thursday 27th June at 9:45 – 10:30 “How do we create a synergised lab community at the forefront of science, innovation and digital technology in Europe?” featuring Bernd Liepert, President, euRobotics, Evelyne Pflugi, CEO, Co-Founder, The Singularity Group, Thomas Bauernhansl, Director, Fraunhofer IPA and Zisis Kozlakidis, Head, Laboratory Services and Biobanking, IARC/WHO.

Copies of the roadmap will be available on request.

About The Authors

Dr Patrick Courtney has 20 years industrial experience in technology development. He worked as Director for global firms such as PerkinElmer, as well as at Sartorius and Cap Gemini. He co-leads a European working group on analytical laboratory robotics and is member of board of directors of SiLA (Standards in Laboratory Automation). He holds an MBA with a PhD in Robotic Engineering/Molecular Biology, and has 100 publications and holds ten patents

Dr Radhika Gudipati has been in the world of Robotics, AI and Deeptech for the last 15 years in various roles as Business solutions Manager, Research Consultant, Subject Matter Expert and Innovation Lead. She holds a PhD in Robotics for healthcare from University of Hertfordshire, UK. Her interest in robotics for difficult & dangerous environments motivated her to actively contribute to the Laboratory Robotics challenges and she currently coordinates a Topic Group on Laboratory robotics at euRobotics alongside Dr Patrick Courtney.

euRobotics is a Brussels-based international non-profit association for all stakeholders in European robotics. It aims to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and to ensure industrial leadership of manufacturers, providers and end-users of robotics technology-based systems and services.