How Robots Are Making Better Drugs, Faster

Robots are attractive to pharmaceutical companies because they're "relentless…they never stop," says Peter Harris, chief executive of HighRes Biosolutions, a Beverly, Mass.,-based company that supplies automated systems for pharmaceutical clients. The software that controls the machines "is able to keep track of many more things in parallel than a human." Lilly recently put $90 million into a new 300,000-square-foot research center in San Diego, where robots are helping to speed up the pace of scientific discovery. In one installation, four glass-enclosed robotic arms grow cells, isolate DNA, and place samples into roughly postcard-sized plastic "plates" that resemble miniature muffin trays. They also shuttle these between various equipment, like measuring machines and incubators, said Dan Skovronsky, president of Lilly's research labs.