Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.9
3.3
Journals
Diagnostics
Special Issues
Collaborative Robotics and Total Laboratory Automation in Clinical Diagnostics
share announcement

Collaborative Robotics and Total Laboratory Automation in Clinical Diagnostics

A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Clinical Laboratory Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 3278

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Robert S. Ohgami

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pathology and ARUP Laboratories, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
Interests: lymphoma; leukemia; pathology; flow cytometry; hematological malignancies; hematologic diseases; myelodysplastic neoplasms; clinical hematology; hematopathology; acute myeloid leukemia; translational research; novel technologies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will showcase clinically driven deployments of collaborative robotics and total laboratory automation across pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical workflows in diagnostic medicine. We welcome original research, implementation studies, multicenter pre/post-evaluations, structured reviews, and perspectives that quantify the impact on turnaround time, error rates, and quality metrics. Priority areas include cobot-enabled sample accessioning and logistics, robotic liquid handling for NGS and LC-MS, automated slide handling and digital pathology integration, clinical microbiology TLA, and interoperability with LIS/LIMS using HL7 or FHIR. Submissions must document validation statistics suitable for CLIA/CAP environments, traceability/chain-of-custody controls, and cybersecurity considerations. Manufacturer-led work should include independent clinical co-authors and transparent data access. The goal is to provide reproducible, patient-impacting results that help labs evaluate where robotics and automation deliver measurable gains, identify failure modes, and outline practical adoption roadmaps for small-, medium-, and high-volume clinical diagnostic laboratories.

Dr. Robert S. Ohgami
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • collaborative robotics
  • total laboratory automation (TLA)
  • diagnostic medicine
  • clinical validation 
  • robotic liquid handling 
  • digital pathology 
  • clinical microbiology

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

15 pages, 1148 KB  
Article
Collaborative Robotic Systems for Pre-Analytical Processing of Biological Specimens in a Medical Laboratory
by Andrey G. Komarov, Pavel O. Bochkov, Arkadiy S. Goldberg, Vasiliy G. Akimkin and Pavel P. Tregub
Diagnostics 2026, 16(7), 1093; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics16071093 - 4 Apr 2026
Viewed by 557
Abstract
Background/Objectives: The increasing volume of laboratory testing and the tightening of quality standards have rendered automation tasks in medical laboratories highly relevant. Conventional total laboratory automation (TLA) systems demonstrate high throughput; however, their economic and organizational efficiency is often constrained by their [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: The increasing volume of laboratory testing and the tightening of quality standards have rendered automation tasks in medical laboratories highly relevant. Conventional total laboratory automation (TLA) systems demonstrate high throughput; however, their economic and organizational efficiency is often constrained by their complex integration and substantial implementation costs. In this context, collaborative robots (cobots) are attracting increasing attention due to their ability to perform pre-analytical and logistical tasks in close association with laboratory personnel. The objective of the present study was the systematic integration of commercially available cobots into the pre-analytical workflow of a large centralized laboratory. Methods: The implemented system incorporated a set of specialized modules, including decapping, barcode orientation and verification, analyzer loading, aliquoting, and specimen sorting, with bidirectional integration into the Laboratory Information System (LIS). The architectural design, control algorithms, and primary effects on labor input and operational turnaround time were evaluated. Results: The results demonstrated that the implementation of cobots into laboratory processes led to an 87% reduction in labor input, a 3.4% improvement in liquid aliquoting accuracy, and an overall improvement in nominal throughput, while requiring minimal personnel training. However, human operators performed the aliquoting procedure significantly faster than cobots, with an average speed advantage of 42.5%. Conclusions: The use of collaborative robotic systems in centralized medical laboratories appears promising due to their operational efficiency and flexibility compared to conventional automation platforms and manual workflows. The effect of the use of cobots on the quality/accuracy of the tests needs to be evaluated, and perhaps a larger study of multiple laboratories needs to be conducted to confirm the results are generalizable. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Collaborative Robotics and Total Laboratory Automation in Clinical Diagnostics)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Review

Jump to: Research

14 pages, 598 KB  
Review
Collaborative Robotics, Mobile Platforms, and Total Laboratory Automation in Clinical Diagnostics
by Shuvam Mukherjee, Charlie Lambert, Yizhi Zhou, Steven Kan, Jianfei Yang, Guochun Liao, Steven Flygare and Robert S. Ohgami
Diagnostics 2026, 16(4), 518; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics16040518 - 9 Feb 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2380
Abstract
Clinical diagnostic laboratories continue to face growing pressure from rising test volumes, increasingly complex testing menus, significant workforce shortages, and expectations for faster turnaround times at sustainable cost. Total laboratory automation (TLA) has become a central strategy for improving efficiency in high-volume laboratories, [...] Read more.
Clinical diagnostic laboratories continue to face growing pressure from rising test volumes, increasingly complex testing menus, significant workforce shortages, and expectations for faster turnaround times at sustainable cost. Total laboratory automation (TLA) has become a central strategy for improving efficiency in high-volume laboratories, where integrated systems from Abbott, Roche, Siemens Healthineers, and Beckman Coulter have demonstrated substantial reductions in turnaround time, error rates, and labor requirements. Evidence across multiple health systems shows that TLA improves performance and stabilizes laboratory operations even during workload peaks. Despite these gains, large segments of pre-analytical and post-analytical workflows remain manual, especially tasks related to specimen transportation, bench-level manipulation, instrument tending, and troubleshooting. Recent progress in collaborative robotics (cobots), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), and hospital service robots demonstrates that these technologies can complement TLA by addressing not only the logistical and dexterous tasks that fixed automation lines cannot reach but also enabling robots that can work safely right alongside humans in a shared space. Cobots have shown sub-millimeter precision in colony picking and other fine-motor tasks, though typically at lower throughputs than dedicated track modules, and AMRs have demonstrated reliable transport of pathology carts and medical supplies through large clinical environments. Meanwhile, humanoid-capable mobile manipulators, like Moxi from Diligent Robotics, deployed in hospitals are already completing hundreds of thousands of supply deliveries, indicating real-world significance. Here, we integrate technical, regulatory, operational, and business perspectives on TLA, collaborative robotics, and mobile platforms. We discuss real-world efficiency gains, regulatory expectations under the CLIA and United States FDA, and the emerging case for hybrid automation ecosystems that combine TLA islands, cobotic workcells, AMRs, and AI-enabled orchestration. We argue that the next decade of laboratory automation will move beyond monolithic tracks with robots toward flexible, modular robotic systems designed to operate safely together with humans and to augment the increasingly strained laboratory workforce. This not only allows clinical staff to dedicate more time to patient care but also ensures greater reliability and scalability for essential services throughout demanding hospital environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Collaborative Robotics and Total Laboratory Automation in Clinical Diagnostics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop