Insights from maxon at MassRobotics’ Healthcare Robotics Webinar
As laboratories evolve to cope with an rising amount of sophisticated duties, automation has shifted from being an opulent to a necessity. This was the essential factor message from Robotics in Healthcare: Revolutionizing Laboratory Automation with Precision Drive Strategies, a contemporary webinar hosted by MassRobotics’s Healthcare Robotics Working Group and that features insights from maxon’s Sandro Walter, World Enterprise Enchancment for Laboratory Automation and Life Science, and Michael Beasley, Enterprise Enchancment Supervisor for US Industrial Automation. The dialogue, moderated by Mary Jane McCraven, Promoting and Enterprise Enchancment Supervisor at Harmonic Drive LLC, explored the current panorama of lab automation, specializing within the challenges laboratories face at current and the alternate options automation provides to strengthen accuracy, effectivity, and scalability.
0:00 – Introduction and Overview
3:33 – Maxon’s Overview by Michael Beasley
8:24 – Challenges in Lab Automation by Sandro Walter
13:05 – Case Analysis: Liquid Coping with
19:29 – Case Analysis: Centrifuges
27:32 – Collaborative Choices for Lab Automation
29:00 – Q&A Session moderated by Mary Jane McCraven
Rising Pressures and the Need for Automation
The demand for automation in laboratories is being pushed by a variety of components, along with the ageing worldwide inhabitants, rising healthcare costs, and rising stress to course of additional exams in a lot much less time. Sandro Walter highlighted that the United Nations initiatives that by 2050, over 1.5 billion of us will probably be aged over 65, significantly rising the need for healthcare firms. With continuous sicknesses on the rise and new drug developments consistently rising, labs ought to adapt to course of larger volumes of samples additional quickly and exactly than ever sooner than.
These requires are compounded by the rising concern of staff shortages and the extreme worth of establishing and sustaining laboratory facilities. Walter emphasised that automation shouldn’t be solely an selection anymore, nevertheless a needed part of laboratory operations, as a result of it permits labs to satisfy bigger throughput requires whereas sustaining precision.
The Reproducibility Catastrophe: A Title for Precision
One of many very important essential challenges talked about was the “reproducibility catastrophe” in laboratory evaluation. A 2016 study carried out by Nature found that over 70% of researchers have been unable to breed one different scientist’s experiments, whereas larger than 60% didn’t breed their outcomes. This highlights essential factors in scientific reproducibility all through a variety of disciplines. Walter underscored this degree, illustrating the need for precision in lab automation. Automated strategies can play an important operate in mitigating the hazards associated to human error, ensuring that processes are fixed and repeatable all through a variety of trials, a major take into account fields like pharmaceutical evaluation and diagnostics.
Key Challenges in Lab Automation
All through the panel, Walter and Beasley delved into a variety of specific challenges that laboratories face at current:
- Extreme Throughput Requires: Laboratories ought to course of tons of, if not 1000’s, of samples per day, inserting immense stress on instruments to hold out quickly and exactly. Walter recognized that superior drive strategies have to be dynamic and capable of quick changes in course whereas sustaining a extreme diploma of precision to satisfy these requires.
- Downtime and Maintenance: Walter emphasised the expensive disruptions that will occur when lab instruments fails. He cited a survey that found 70% of laboratories acknowledged downtime as an important concern. To battle this, they counsel using brushless motors and high-quality provides paying homage to ceramic components to extend instruments life and reduce maintenance.
- Workflow Effectivity: Laboratories ought to ensure that every step inside the workflow is atmosphere pleasant and reliable. Walter well-known that precision is important, considerably in liquid coping with strategies, the place high-resolution encoders assure appropriate sample measurement all the way in which right down to the nanoliter scale.
- Home Constraints: As labs face rising requires for space-efficient choices, Walter highlighted the sample in direction of smaller, additional compact units. By integrating drive strategies that optimize every home and effectivity, prospects can shrink the footprint of their instruments
Alternate options for Innovation: Case Analysis
All by the dialogue, Walter shared case analysis that demonstrated how maxon’s tailored methodology has helped purchasers overcome these challenges. In a single occasion, the shopper modified an even bigger motor with a smaller, brushless mannequin for a liquid coping with system, significantly bettering precision whereas decreasing the system’s footprint. A ceramic lead screw was used to extend the lifetime of the system and cut back maintenance needs.
In a single different case, the buyer wanted to reinforce centrifuge effectivity by addressing vibration and noise factors. By refining the drive system, the shopper was ready to enhance the accuracy and reliability of the instruments, whereas moreover extending its operational life.
A Purchaser-Centric Technique
Michael Beasley, who oversees maxon’s industrial automation sector inside the US, emphasised the importance of understanding purchaser needs and creating tailored choices. He outlined that maxon’s methodology usually begins with customary components, which might be then customized to satisfy specific shopper requirements.
Beasley burdened that the shift in direction of additional solution-based approaches in lab automation shouldn’t be solely pushed by the purchasers who’re trying to find additional full, ready-to-deploy choices to scale back present chain complexities and expedite time-to-market. This highlights the market’s altering scope and suggests a useful tip for innovators coming into this home. He highlighted how with this methodology, maxon has enabled their purchasers to stay aggressive in a shortly evolving panorama.
Moderating a Deep Dive into Automation
As a result of the moderator, Mary Jane McCraven helped facilitate the dialogue, guiding the audio system by the use of numerous important topics and ensuring that the viewers had the prospect to dive deeper into strategies and utilized sciences impacting the enterprise.
McCraven posed questions in regards to the regulatory challenges suppliers face when rising healthcare robotics choices, which led to a dialogue in regards to the stringent ISO 13485 certification course of and maxon’s long-standing dedication to meeting regulatory necessities. She moreover highlighted how AI is transforming the healthcare robotics panorama, prompting a dialog in regards to the integration of AI into lab strategies, considerably for predictive maintenance and course of optimization.
McCraven’s questions helped illuminate not solely the technical aspects of enhancements however as well as the broader enterprise developments shaping the way in which ahead for lab automation. Her engagement ensured a well-rounded exploration of the intersection between robotics, automation, and healthcare.
Making an attempt Ahead: The Place of AI in Lab Automation
Walter moreover talked about the rising operate of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare robotics. He well-known that AI will play an increasingly more important operate in analyzing data generated by automated lab strategies, serving to laboratories uncover new insights. He’s exploring utilizing AI for predictive maintenance, the place motors act as sensors to detect potential factors sooner than they end in instruments failures, significantly decreasing downtime and enhancing system reliability.
Conclusion
The webinar equipped an entire take a look on the state of lab automation, from the challenges confronted by fashionable laboratories to the fashionable choices being developed by corporations paying homage to maxon. As Walter, Beasley, and McCraven emphasised, the way in which ahead for lab automation lies inside the functionality to ship tailored, actual choices that meet the rising requires for effectivity, scalability, and accuracy.
For additional insights and to have a look at the whole webinar, go to the MassRobotics web page. Maintain tuned for upcoming events in our Healthcare Robotics Webinar Sequence and proceed to find how robotics is revolutionizing healthcare.
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