Clinical lab automation

Most clinical lab errors happen outside the analyzer.

BenchBee builds benchtop robots that connect to your LIS and do the hands-on work on both sides of testing — from the sealed courier bag to the archive fridge — the same way at 3 a.m. as at 3 p.m.

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  • Pre-analytical
  • Analyzer hand-off
  • Post-analytical
  • LIS-integrated

On the bench

Receiving first, working real tubes.

The arm reads each specimen, decides what happens to it, and checks the accepted ones into the LIS. Every task is rehearsed in simulation before it runs on the bench. The clip plays muted — unmute for the audio.

  • Reads the requirementReasons through what the ordered test needs, and takes only a specimen that satisfies it.
  • Holds the bad onesDetects error specimens and sets them aside instead of passing them downstream.
  • Decides what gets spunKnows which specimens go to the centrifuge, and runs it.
  • Accessions in the LISChecks each accepted specimen in directly, so the order and the physical tube are linked.
Bench prototype, filmed August 2026. A working system on a bench, not a station deployed in a lab.

How it works

From the courier bag to the archive fridge.

One station on the bench you already have, wired into your LIS, middleware and instruments.

Before the analyzer

  1. 01UnbagOpens the courier bag; pulls tubes and requisition.
  2. 02InspectChecks label, tube, fill and the order.
  3. 03AccessionChecks accepted tubes into the LIS.
  4. 04SortSpin, no-spin, or hold for a person.
  5. 05CentrifugeBalances, spins and unloads.
  6. 06Aliquot and loadSplits primaries, loads analyzer racks.
Your analyzer Stays exactly as it is.

After the analyzer

  1. 07Unload and recapPulls racks when results release.
  2. 08ArchiveRacks tubes in the fridge, logged in the LIS.
  3. 09Retrieve and disposeFinds tubes for reruns; clears expired ones.

Held tubes are never accessioned until a person rules on them, and cameras verify every move before the LIS is updated. Receiving runs on the bench prototype today.

The problem, in numbers

The work around the analyzer is where the errors start and the hours go.

46–68%

of laboratory errors happen before testing ever starts.

Most lab error is pre-analytical: the wrong tube for the order, a specimen that was never received into the LIS, a tube spun that should not have been. The analyzer is rarely the problem. The bench that creates the problem is the one still run entirely by hand.

Published error-distribution literature
$190–225k

a year to keep one bench position staffed around the clock.

Specimens arrive on the courier's schedule, so the bench is covered on three shifts. That is the fully loaded cost, every year, for work that is mostly unbagging, racking, splitting and filing.

BLS wage data, fully loaded
7–11%

of clinical lab positions sit vacant, higher in some regions.

The person you need at 2 a.m. is the hardest one to hire and keep. When the seat is open, the bench gets covered by whoever is available, and that is exactly when the same tube starts being handled two different ways.

Clinical laboratory workforce vacancy data

And another 18–47% of errors happen after the result: add-ons that never reach the tube, reruns on a specimen nobody can find. The analyzer is automated. The hands-on work on both sides of it is not, and it is staffed around the clock by the role that is hardest to fill.

See it on your workflow

Hand the bench to the station.

Tell us which bench work takes your hours, or pick a time to talk it through with Alina.

Get in touch
  • 20 minutes
  • With a licensed CLS
  • No slides