Dear SiLA friends and members

Just before vacation time, the July issue of the SiLA Connection-Newsletter is available for download.

We are sharing the following exciting news and information with you:

• The pandemic paved the way for digital transformation
• Launch and ramp-up of the SiLA Robotics Working Group
• Review of bioSASH hackathon on July 11th on Laboratory Robotics and on to the next ones!
• SiLA Session at Lab of the Future, Amsterdam
• Introducing: SiLA 2 compatible Hyve™
• SiLA at the Analytica Digital Transformation Forum
• New SiLA working group “Lab QR Code” – join us!
• Basel and SiLA welcomed FutureLabs LIVE
• Looking back at “Mobile Robots in the Pharmaceutical Industry”
• SmartLab Exchange EU
• Available recordings and publications
• Change in the SiLA Management
• Call for submission to next User Meeting
• Welcome our new SiLA Corporate Members
• Where to meet us next

We hope you enjoy the news!

Dear SiLA friends and members

We are happy to share the recording of the Second SiLA Academic User Conference with you!

On March 31. we conducted the second SiLA academic users workshop consisting of 3 short talks and discussions. Tessa Habich and Ferdinand Lange from Hannover Institute of technical chemistry presented a SiLA integration for chromatography systems. Their minimalistic Odroid Single Board Computer runs SiLA drivers inside a modular Docker container and offers a neat and easy-maintenance generic solution for SiLA automation. The second talk, from Adam Wolf (Takeda), included an introduction to mobile robotics and requirements on the various communication layers. Especially the generic ROS-SiLA bridge lends itself to numerous applications not only for mobile but also for classical pick-and-place applications. Vivid discussion were continued in the regular meeting of the SiLA Robotics Group following the workshop. Stefan Maak then presented the LARA Platform in Greifswald and the MiLA mobile robot in Berlin. The complex Lara platform had been developed over several years and was presented in the first academic user workshop, here Stefan presented the latest integration of mobile robots and an outlook towards tighter human-robot collaboration to increase rapid integration and scheduling of manual tasks where human operators can formally be addressed as SiLA Service Providers.

For those who missed the life event we added a recording of the Conference to our SiLA-Youtube channel

Agenda/Flyer: here

Youtube link: here

Are you an academic and would like to share your experience about SiLA with the community?

Contact us: info@sila-standard.org and get involved in the next SiLA Academic User Event in 2022. We look forward to hearing from you!

Dear SiLA friends and members

The 3^rd bioSASH hackathon is split in three different groups/dates. So, you are invited to choose which working group(s) you would like to join.

The event is free of charge and will take place on the following dates:

03.03.2021 – Devices in the local lab and LIMS in the cloud – how to build a smart data integration

10.03.2021 – Mobile Robotics/Laboratory Automation Plug & Play with SiLA/ ROS – SiLA bridge

17.03.2021 – Processes that require complex information in execution while the hands are busy – (approaches to solutions in the fields of microbiology, chemical analysis, and packaging examination)

Times: 10 am – 06:00 pm (CET)

Online Event: link available in due time

The hackathon brings together laboratory users with a platform of top European experts in the field of automation and IT development. Take the chance and join our third virtual event in which innovative ideas and approaches to solutions for automation in the laboratory will be developed. The target audience for the upcoming hackathons are both experienced and inexperienced coders as well as lab users who wish to exchange with European automation experts in the field of automation and IT developmentWe cordially invite all laboratory users, robotics companies, pharmaceutical companies, startups & SMEs, students, and coders to join our hackathon. This will be the third of further planned events. It is not too late to join a team that contribute to smarter, safer, and faster labs.
Don´t miss the opportunity to come together and to create synergies.

Come together – Network and be part of a progressive innovative group!
Find out how SiLA and AnIML standard can be implemented, connect with people, and exchange your ideas and experiences. If you are interested in smart data integrations, robotics solutions, digitization, and standardization in the lab then these will be the right events for you.

For any questions and more info please contact Jamin Bouras.

Registration

This Technology Transfer Experiment has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the DIH-HERO grant agreement no 825003.

We are delighted to welcome Mark Auty to the SiLA Board of Director!

Let Mark introduce himeself:

I joined Unilever in 1996 as a research chemist and shortly after began regularly working with Laboratory Automation. This has varied from conducting experiments using single purpose cells, to method development and managing complex large robotic platform build projects on behalf for internal customers. I have interests in IT & security, software design, data management, reliability and systems analysis (STPA).  Currently I am also exploring the interplay between human and fully automated workflows in a shared lab space, which can impose a greater set of controls problems than those of a traditional workcell.

I started my journey with SiLA in 2019 when I realised that standardisation is essential for managing an efficient modern laboratory. Since then, I have built several SiLA servers to allow the creation of integrated workflows. My primary concern has always been to serve the needs of the scientist today and in the future. I joined the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) in 2017 where I further my engineering education, drawing influence from a variety of fields and industries, which where applicable, I bring back into the laboratory context.

Why did you decide to join the consortium as a director?

I have seen laboratory automation change and develop dramatically over the last 15 years or so. Industry 4.0 and IoT have given it a further boost and I believe the rate of change can only increase. This has the potential to benefit all laboratory users, but in particular those within industrial R&D. These users are very diverse, and their individual needs are further constrained by organisational factors such as local IT infrastructure and policy. This is the complex landscape I live in. Within this role I believe I will be able to add benefit by framing opportunities for SiLA in an industrial R&D context.

System safety is an essential component of any piece of automation. Safety here however has a broad context, Human safety (obviously) but also Program safety, Process and Equipment safety as well as Data safety (the data must be correct and supported by metadata wherever possible). While these safeties may not all be explicitly part of the SiLA standard, they do need to be considered by all parts of the automation community. I believe advantage can be gained if the whole SiLA ecosystem (Standard, working groups, integrators & developers as well as end users) are all aligned and supported in this endeavour.

A warm-hearted welcome to you, Mark!

Dear SiLA friends and members

In the January issue of the SiLA Connection-Newsletter we are sharing
the following exciting news and information with you:

• SLAS 2022 in Boston, 5-9 February “get hyped for Science”
• SmartLab Exchange EU, February 8th – 9th, Hotel Palace Berlin
• Review of BioSASH hackathon on Laboratory Robotics
  and invitation to next one!
• SiLA Academic User Conference – call for presentations for Conference, March 2022
• Welcome our new SiLA member Institut für Energie- und Umwelttechnik (IUTA) e.V.
• First international congress on pharmaceutical use of mobile robotics on 21-22 April
• The SiLA Board of Directors 2022
• Recorded events
• Deft Reactor – Applied Scientific Technologies
• SiLA 2 Training Videos available for free on youtube!
• Where to meet us next

To download the newsletter click here.

We hope you enjoy the news!

Very delighted to share the newest WhitePaper “SiLA for Software Vendors” with you!
Click here to download the article.

We hope you enjoy the information it contains and do welcome feedback.

Dear SiLA friends and members

Happy to share the recording of the first SiLA Academic User Conference with you!

Agenda/Flyer: here

Youtube link: here

Are you an academic and would like to share your experience about SiLA with the community?

Contact us: info(at)sila-standard.org and get involved in the next SiLA Academic User Event in 2022. We look forward to hearing from you!

We are delighted to invite you to the 1st online SiLA Academic User Conference on November 11th.

While SiLA originally grew out of the interoperability needs in commercial labs, academic groups are finding
that SiLA / AnIML addresses an “unmet” need in research and have been active members of the developer
community. Some of the leading groups will be coming together to present their use cases across screening,
cell culture and bioprocessing:

These projects act as a proving ground for new ideas and make a valuable contribution to innovation and skills
development. So please join us for what will be a fascinating session.
Register now for the free event via google form or by e-mail.

We look forward to meeting you online!

Dear SiLA friends and members

In the October issue of the SiLA Connection-Newsletter we are sharing
the following exciting news and information with you:

• Join the next BioSASH SiLA / AniML hackathon #2
• SLAS 2022 Boston Feb. 5-9
• Cloud connectivity for your SiLA services
• Join the first SiLA Academic User Conference
• Welcome with us SiLA member Takeda
• SiLA@Lab of the Future LIVE on 26-27 October
• Recorded events
• KIWI-biolab Symposium: “The Role of Machine Intelligence in the future of Bioprocess Development”
• Call for presentations for the next SiLA User Conference – November 2021
• C# SiLA 2 Training Videos available for free on youtube!
• Where to meet us next

To download the newsletter click here.

We hope you enjoy the news!