Introduction

The previous section on Assay Technologies and Detection Methods covered a range of methods that are being used or developed to increase the efficiency of HTS. The implementation of these methods is being complemented by an increase in the use of automation and robotics. There is no formal definition of the use of the terms automation or robotics and the two are often used interchangeably. To avoid confusion, automation is defined as the use of stand alone instrumentation (work stations) that performs a given task whereas robotics is the use of a robot arm to move microplates between these instruments.