Using Robotics in Laboratories During the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Review

AI-driven laboratory workflows enable operation in the age of social distancing

“…Particularly, it has led to shortages in vital supplies, changes in standard operating protocols leading to suspension of operations because of social distancing and stay-at-home guidelines. These changes have led to limiting their operational capabilities causing delays and loss in productivity[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ].…”

“…While the entire scientific community has acknowledged such social-distancing measures as a critical step to slowing down the pandemic, these measures have come at a cost, leading to a huge “loss of scientific progress”[ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Thus, the pandemic has led to a growing need for enabling laboratory operations in the “new normal” [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Despite this awareness of the challenges and costs of “shelter in place” and social distancing on laboratory research, most responses have focused on identifying remote operational issues and developing re-entry roadmaps for risk and safety compliance checklists, with little to no use of digital technologies for redefining laboratory operations[ 1 , 8 ].…”

“…Rapid progress in digital technologies—particularly sensing modalities for the internet-of-things, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics—provide promising avenues for digital transformation of laboratory operations. Particularly in the area of laboratory automation, the major focus has been on robotics [3] , specifically on using robotic arms to automate specific processes[ 9 , 10 ]. Similarly, electronic laboratory notes [12] and cloud-based documentation and sharing platforms [13] have enabled process automation of laboratory functions.…”

A Smart Sterilization Robot System With Chlorine Dioxide for Spray Disinfection

“…The risk of manual disinfection is that humans may be exposed to potentially contaminated surfaces, causing anxiety, tension, and loss of productivity for medical staff, especially in hospital contagion units. Furthermore, public panic about COVID-19 has led to the popularization of disinfection robots [5][6][7]. Robot disinfection usually can be divided into two categories: UV light irradiation [8][9][10] and chemical disinfection [11,12].…”

Service Robots in Wuhan Cabin Hospitals

“…These robots are usually remotely controlled to avoid hazardous contact between the disinfectant and humans. For instance, the Light Strike Germ-Zapping Robot (10) is operated by trained hospital environmental services staff, while Courtney and Royall (11) proposed a robot that relies on simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) to autonomously scan and navigate a specific facility such as a laboratory. To address the two scenarios of logistics and disinfection, Tamantini et al (12) proposed a functional integration robotic system and carried out a two-month experiment.…”