Instead of robots moving along a linear track, in this new system the test plats are moved on their own track to stationary robots
An eagerly anticipated new lab automation system that will significantly boost productivity and reduce time to market for the global drug discovery industry was unveiled at SBS, 8th Annual Conference, September 2002, by Thermo CRS.
After 18 months of top-secret development at its headquarters near Toronto, the company launches the CRS Dimension4, which it says will radically change the face of drug R and D.
"We expect that the new system will result in productivity gains of at least 400% and many labs will be able to perform more than 400,000 tests per day," says Thermo CRS president and CEO Ralph Steedman.
The drug discovery sector has been under pressure to increase productivity due to rising R and D costs, the expiration of numerous profitable patents and the quantum leap in new disease targets resulting from the Human Genome Project.
The new system is based on a paradigm shift in design.
In the conventional approach, each test plate must be transported by means of a robot moving along a linear track.
CRS Dimension4 turns that concept around by moving test plates rapidly along a linear track to stationary robots where the plates are then transferred.
