For companies processing hundreds or thousands of plates per day, one could build a business case for switching to an automated pipetting system on throughput alone. Robots are faster and less expensive to feed and care for than humans are.

Service and maintenance for liquid handling equipment are approximately the same as for a liquid chromatography system, but the type of service differs. All vendors offer typical levels of on-site service, with premium plans including preventive maintenance visits.

Automated liquid handling (ALH) grew from the high-throughput needs of medical diagnostic labs in the late 1980s through the 1990s and then received an additional boost from genomic sequencing. As it evolved from a specialized, expert-driven instrument system to a generalized laboratory workstation, ALH has become more accessible to more workers in more labs.

Some expect the mobile apps market to quadruple over the next four years, from $6.8 billion to $25 billion. Others forecast revenues at $29.5 billion by 2013, increasing from $7 billion in 2010.

In recent years, research labs have been a notable beneficiary as a variety of highly functional and specialized apps have gained the acceptance and even gratitude of a broad spectrum of laboratory managers, research scientists and bench technologists.