Lab Automation

LAB AUTOMATION RESOURCE GUIDE
A Scripting Approach to Automation
Many laboratories still have not adopted automation, mostly due to the high cost of standard
automated laboratory instruments. The situation is aggravated by the lack of compatibility
between instruments made by different manufacturers.
by Matheus C. Carvalho
The problem of lack of compatibility between
laboratory instruments has been recognized since the
1990s. It has prompted some groups of laboratory
professionals (see, for example, the Standardization in
Lab Automation and Clinical and Laboratory Standards
Institute initiatives) to propose the standardization of
laboratory instruments. The reason is that standardized
instruments would be compatible with each other. However,
standardization involves considerable costs for instrument
manufacturers and end-users, and thus standardization
has achieved only limited success to improve instrument
compatibility, a situation that will probably not change in the
next few years.
Fortunately, it is not necessary to wait for standardization
in order to cope with the lack of compatibility between
instruments. It is possible, today, to buy an instrument from
company A and combine it with another from company B.
And you do not need to be a technical wiz to do it—all you
need is to learn about scripting.
The scripting approach
The technology that enables unrestricted compatibility
between laboratory instruments is scripting, a
variation of computer programming. Among scripting
languages, AutoIt stands out as probably the most useful
for integrating laboratory instruments because it enables
automation of mouse clicks and keyboard entries. AutoIt has
been developed and perfected since 1999, and it is entirely
free.
The main difference between the traditional approach for
instrument integration and the one based on scripting is
the way information is exchanged between instruments.
In the traditional way, instruments send signals to each
other (Figure 1). With scripting, instruments do not send
signals to each other at all; instead, a computer (or more
than one computer in a network) controls all instruments
(Figure 2), and sends commands to them in an orderly
fashion. Therefore, it is not necessary that the manufacturer
of a certain instrument design this instrument with
capabilities to communicate with other instruments: the
only thing that is necessary is that the instrument can be
controlled by a computer, which is a default capability in
almost all instruments nowadays. Therefore, nothing extra
is needed from the manufacturer’s side (compare this to
standardization, which could demand a complete overhaul
of the production process).
Also, scripting is very accessible for the user. No knowledge
of electronics or low-level computing is necessary. In fact,
scripting is probably the easiest kind of programming that
exists. Controlling different instruments using the AutoIt
scripting language can be very simple; for example, the
instruction “MouseClick,” which, as the name implies,
executes a mouse click. Another instruction, “Send,” sends
keyboard entries. These instructions can be called at spaced
intervals (determined by the instruction “Sleep”) and at
different coordinates on the computer screen. Therefore,
the synchronization of two or more graphical interfaces,
each controlling a different instrument, can be easily and
intuitively enabled. This means that laboratory technicians
and scientists can develop solutions for their instrument
compatibility problems without the need for advanced
technical support.
More sophisticated control is also possible with AutoIt.
For example, signals on the screen, like a popup window
displaying “Waiting” or a button that is normally green
but becomes red if a certain condition arises, can be
incorporated into the coding, thus enabling interactive
scripting. In addition to that, control of interfaces without
direct use of the mouse and/or keyboard is also possible,
thereby freeing the computer for multitasking. Finally,
even remote synchronization is possible through the
Internet. These and other more advanced solutions can be
implemented after a deeper study of AutoIt.
Lab Manager 2017
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