Re: Need help for designing chem. robots
- From: David Stranz <david_stranz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2006 20:29:25 -0600
"george_D" <georgedorian@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:1143353233.476864.46820@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
Hi!
My name is George. I'm not a chemist, but I've worked for a
startup bioengineering company for 5 years and I've taken
general chem.
I'm a computer engineer by profession, specializing in robotics
used in chem. labs. In fact my job at the bio company was to
build 4 robotic DNA synthesizers.
For some time I've wanted to design a number of small, table
top, and low cost robots for the chem. industry. At this point
it's mostly just a hobby, but if it works out I'd like to start
a business. I think I've got some good ideas, but my problem is
that I still don't have a good idea of what chemists really
need. I'm hoping that some of you can guide me and give me some
advise.
There is a good local college (that's where I took chem.) near
me and I'm getting some help from the chem. teachers there. And
I think I can get assess to there lab to do some experiments.
I've heard of the terms; QC assays, combinatorial chemistry,
general synthesis, but I only have a vague idea of what they
are. Other than that, think what I need to know from chemists
is; "As a robotics engineer, what could I do to make your job a
lot easer?"
Thanks George
Of the three terms you mention in your last paragraph, all of them
have been addressed by the major makers of laboratory automation
instruments. Googling for "laboratory automation" gets you about
26 million hits.
Don't mean to rain on your parade, but unless you find an really
innovative niche that no one has thought of before, chances are
good that there's a major manufacturer already making an instrument
in that area (or who holds patents on one). There is a huge amount
of activity in this area already, since most of the major
pharmaceutical companies are investing heavily in lab automation to
enable high-throughput drug screening and testing. The instrument
vendors are very agressive in meeting those needs.
You will have trouble making anything in the "small, table top, and
low cost" category that is sophisticated enough to meet many
industrial needs. Zymark was an early manufacturer of lab robots,
and they were barely able to make a profit - all of their income
went back into R&D, and they spent a huge amount of effort
customizing their robot installations for specific customer needs,
typically at an engineering cost that netted them no profit. They
eventually got bought. Other companies including Hewlett-Packard
and Perkin-Elmer tried to get into the general-purpose lab robot
market, failed to make any money, and exited or sold it off.
Unfortunately as well, local colleges are probably not a good place
to learn what the industry needs, as faculty typically do not have
the "real-world" perspective (unless of course, it is a college
specializing in technical education for people destined for
industrial jobs). Better would be for you to find contacts in
chemical and industrial labs (like the bioengineering company).
Regards,
David
.
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