Today’s laboratories are moving beyond automation to create more intelligent lab environments making lab professionals more productive in their jobs. Read how!

AUSTIN, TX, UNITED STATES, March 27, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Is Your Laboratory Smart?



Today’s laboratories are moving beyond point automation solutions, such as LIMS, ELNs, and robot-based HTS systems, to create “smart environments” that not only embrace the comfort and convenience needs of lab technicians but also help improve the consistency and reproducibility of experimental results.


If you asked laboratory professionals 15 years ago to describe their ideal modern “smart” laboratory, they would have mentioned some of the then cutting-edge data collection and automation tools just coming into widespread use, such as LIMS (Laboratory Information Management Systems), ELNs (Electronic Laboratory Notebooks), and Robotic HTS (High-Throughput Screening) systems for managing and testing cell culture plates.


How times have changed. In a world where self-driving car prototypes prowl our streets and smartphones let us communicate with our NEST thermostats and other home appliances, the idea of just what constitutes a smart lab has evolved as well.


Smart labs are no longer just about data management systems; the new trend is toward comprehensive “smart environments” that work quietly in the background to seamlessly embrace and support the needs of today’s lab professionals in order to help them become happier, healthier, and more productive in their jobs.


Unsure what we mean? Let’s take a look at a day in the life of today’s smart laboratories.


Around the Clock Laboratory Monitoring and Control, Even from Home



The day in the life of our smart laboratory actually starts overnight in one of the lab technician’s homes.


Custom laboratory apps, first demonstrated by the likes of IBM a dozen years ago, allow scientists and lab technicians to maintain control of experiments, using secure remote communication links.*


As a result, it’s no longer necessary to camp out in the lab overnight to turn lab equipment on or off – or to change a setting during an extended experiment. And, If anything goes awry, alarms will sound off on your PC at your desk and on the phone in your pocket.


Even “dumb” devices can be powered up or down remotely (by voice command if you like!) by utilizing smart outlets in your Formaspace lab workbench.


*Want to create your own remote control system from scratch? This short paper documenting a Raspberry Pi-based open hardware solution will give you some inspiration.



Personalized Security and Convenience Features Welcome You to the Lab



The sun is up. Now it’s time to make our way down to the lab.


Put on your smart glasses and use the iris scanner to open the secure door.


Once inside, Formaspace’s futuristic smart furniture will recognize your presence from a key fob with a built-in RFID sensor (or via a Bluetooth signal) and sets the height of your lab workbench to your preferred, ergonomically-ideal position. (Throughout the day, the lab bench will also remind you to get up and get moving – or to work from a standing position from time to time to increase your blood circulation.)


Just like in your kitchen at home, the coffeemaker in the kitchen mess will have already started brewing, having been alerted to your arrival in the parking lot. The lights are set to a comfortable level, and window shades turned just the right way to allow in natural light but shield your eyes from the glare of the morning sun. (No windows? No problem. Smart lights can bring sunlight into the lab if it doesn’t conflict with any of your experiments.)


And so it goes, right down the line. The temperature is set the way you like it (or perhaps the way cells in your test plates like it), your favorite music begins to play.


Now it’s time to get down to work.




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Brooke Turner
Formaspace
8002511505
email us here

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