From data glasses to robotic arms – labs enter the digital age

In general, interfaces are an extremely important issue in the laboratory world. For some time now, there have been efforts to put an end to the days of proprietary software and to enable the much-vaunted "plug and play" capability across different manufacturers without any restrictions – in other words, simply plug in a new spectrometer and it is immediately recognised in the existing laboratory network and ready for use. Although this is already happening in many cases, there is still much to be done. The two initiatives SiLA and OPC UA LADS are particularly noteworthy in this respect. Both aim to create a common standard for instrument connectivity in the laboratory.

The emergence of the ChatGPT chatbot and its clones, which have generated a huge media hype in a very short time, shows how quickly a technological leap can take place. The possibilities offered by such learning algorithms will also change the world of laboratory work. A suitably trained programme could, for example, help with documentation and writing publications. Or it could simply act as an intermediary between humans and computer programmes, allowing them to design and control measurements via text or voice input – in direct dialogue with the analytical instrument, so to speak. In 2022, Lauda, the manufacturer of temperature control technology, made its first attempts at voice control for the laboratory with its Lauda Live system. The advantage is obvious: manual data entry is no longer necessary, leaving the hands free for other tasks.

Laboratories will gradually become more connected, digitalised and automated. In the future, we may even achieve the much touted 'paperless laboratory' – although in some cases we are still some way off. However, there is one aspect that seems to be the counterpoint to all this technological progress that will have a decisive influence on the laboratory of the future: the issue of sustainability.

The desire for a more sustainable laboratory is by no means synonymous with a desire for less technology, but rather relies on new technologies. Dr Thorsten Teutenberg of the Institute for Environment and Energy, Technology and Analytics (IUTA) confirms this: "Initially, digitalisation offers the greatest potential for advancing sustainability in the laboratory." According to Teutenberg, this is due, for example, to better organisation and documentation. "In many academic institutions, experiments are often repeated that have already been carried out several times, but by a different person who may not have worked at that institution for a long time. By using, for example, an electronic lab notebook instead of a paper-based lab notebook, research results can be made permanently available and unnecessary experiments can be avoided".

Another positive side-effect in terms of sustainability is the miniaturisation of laboratory equipment and processes, such as switching from classic HPLC to micro-LC. Such modifications ideally free up valuable space in the laboratory. "If we can save space by miniaturising analytical systems, this has a direct impact on the running costs of the laboratory," explains Teutenberg.

Miniaturisation of equipment and experimental set-ups down to lab-on-a-chip for minimal resource consumption, an AI-optimised reaction approach that achieves the desired result faster, or simply a freezer with lower energy consumption – many modern developments implicitly support the idea of sustainability in the laboratory.