<title>AutoLab: a robotics solution for flexible laboratory automation</title>

Abstract

This paper describes a proposal to develop a flexible automation system for sample preparation and analysis in a chemistry laboratory without human assistance. The key to such automation is a robot arm, centrally placed with respect to a series of work stations containing balances, mixers, dispensers, centrifuges and analytical instruments. Object handling at each station and sample movement from one station to another is performed by the robot arm according to user-programmed procedures. The research emphasizes the analysis and modular decomposition of chemistry procedures, modeling the procedures in a computer system and integrating this model with robot arm and other instrumentation hardware involved in a complete automation of a chemistry laboratory.