Integrating Mobile Robots into Automated Laboratory Processes: A Suitable Workflow Management System.

The general trend of automation is currently increasing in life science laboratories. The samples to be examined show a high diversity in their structures and composition as well as the determination methods. Complex automation lines such as those used in classic industrial automation are not a suitable solution with respect to the required flexibility of the systems due to changing application requirements. Rather, full automation requires the connection of several different subsystems, including manual process steps by the laboratory staff. This requires suitable workflow management systems that enable the planning and execution of complex process steps. The integration of mobile robots for transportation tasks is currently an important development trend for realizing full automation in life science laboratories. The article "Workflow Management System for the Integration of Mobile Robots in Future Labs of Life Sciences" presents the development and application of a hierarchical workflow management system (HWMS) as a top-level process management and control system. This concept combines the typical hierarchical automation structure with novel approaches for the integration of transportation tasks with variable degrees of automation. The aim is to create a general-purpose workflow management system that can be used in different areas of the life sciences, regardless of the specific device components and applications used.

Potential of Laboratory Execution Systems (LESs) to Simplify the Application of Business Process Management Systems (BPMSs) in Laboratory Automation.

Modern business process management (BPM) is increasingly interesting for laboratory automation. End-to-end workflow automation and improved top-level systems integration for information technology (IT) and automation systems are especially prominent objectives. With the ISO Standard Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) 2.X, a system-independent and interdisciplinary accepted graphical process control notation is provided, allowing process analysis, while also being executable. The transfer of BPM solutions to structured laboratory automation places novel demands, for example, concerning the real-time-critical process and systems integration. The article discusses the potential of laboratory execution systems (LESs) for an easier implementation of the business process management system (BPMS) in hierarchical laboratory automation. In particular, complex application scenarios, including long process chains based on, for example, several distributed automation islands and mobile laboratory robots for a material transport, are difficult to handle in BPMSs. The presented approach deals with the displacement of workflow control tasks into life science specialized LESs, the reduction of numerous different interfaces between BPMSs and subsystems, and the simplification of complex process modelings. Thus, the integration effort for complex laboratory workflows can be significantly reduced for strictly structured automation solutions. An example application, consisting of a mixture of manual and automated subprocesses, is demonstrated by the presented BPMS-LES approach.

Improved compliance by BPM-driven workflow automation.

Using methods and technologies of business process management (BPM) for the laboratory automation has important benefits (i.e., the agility of high-level automation processes, rapid interdisciplinary prototyping and implementation of laboratory tasks and procedures, and efficient real-time process documentation). A principal goal of the model-driven development is the improved transparency of processes and the alignment of process diagrams and technical code. First experiences of using the business process model and notation (BPMN) show that easy-to-read graphical process models can achieve and provide standardization of laboratory workflows. The model-based development allows one to change processes quickly and an easy adaption to changing requirements. The process models are able to host work procedures and their scheduling in compliance with predefined guidelines and policies. Finally, the process-controlled documentation of complex workflow results addresses modern laboratory needs of quality assurance. BPMN 2.0 as an automation language to control every kind of activity or subprocess is directed to complete workflows in end-to-end relationships. BPMN is applicable as a system-independent and cross-disciplinary graphical language to document all methods in laboratories (i.e., screening procedures or analytical processes). That means, with the BPM standard, a communication method of sharing process knowledge of laboratories is also available.

Flexible End2End Workflow Automation of Hit-Discovery Research.

The article considers a new approach of more complex laboratory automation at the workflow layer. The authors purpose the automation of end2end workflows. The combination of all relevant subprocesses-whether automated or manually performed, independently, and in which organizational unit-results in end2end processes that include all result dependencies. The end2end approach focuses on not only the classical experiments in synthesis or screening, but also on auxiliary processes such as the production and storage of chemicals, cell culturing, and maintenance as well as preparatory activities and analyses of experiments. Furthermore, the connection of control flow and data flow in the same process model leads to reducing of effort of the data transfer between the involved systems, including the necessary data transformations. This end2end laboratory automation can be realized effectively with the modern methods of business process management (BPM). This approach is based on a new standardization of the process-modeling notation Business Process Model and Notation 2.0. In drug discovery, several scientific disciplines act together with manifold modern methods, technologies, and a wide range of automated instruments for the discovery and design of target-based drugs. The article discusses the novel BPM-based automation concept with an implemented example of a high-throughput screening of previously synthesized compound libraries.

A highly scalable information system as extendable framework solution for medical R&D projects.

For research projects in preventive medicine a flexible information management is needed that offers a free planning and documentation of project specific examinations. The system should allow a simple, preferably automated data acquisition from several distributed sources (e.g., mobile sensors, stationary diagnostic systems, questionnaires, manual inputs) as well as an effective data management, data use and analysis. An information system fulfilling these requirements has been developed at the Center for Life Science Automation (celisca). This system combines data of multiple investigations and multiple devices and displays them on a single screen. The integration of mobile sensor systems for comfortable, location-independent capture of time-based physiological parameter and the possibility of observation of these measurements directly by this system allow new scenarios. The web-based information system presented in this paper is configurable by user interfaces. It covers medical process descriptions, operative process data visualizations, a user-friendly process data processing, modern online interfaces (data bases, web services, XML) as well as a comfortable support of extended data analysis with third-party applications.