Comparing Voice-activated Lab Assistants
September 19, 2024
Voice-activated lab assistants are becoming the new must-have feature in laboratory informatics. Once Siri and Alexa penetrated everyday life, it didn’t take long for scientists to think that a voice-activated assistant could be useful for their work, too. The first academic proof of concepts came as early as 2018. A year later, the world’s first voice-powered digital lab assistant was launched.
Today, voice-activated lab assistants come as add-ons to some laboratory information management systems (LIMS; like LabVantage’s experimental LOTTIE) or as a partner product with electronic lab notebooks (ELNs; such as Ascenscia). LabTwin is a standalone product that can interface with any ELN or LIMS. In this blog, we’ll compare the features and use cases of each of these products to help you make an informed choice about whether a voice-activated lab assistant will work in your lab and, if so, which one is the best fit.
Common Features of All Voice-activated Lab Assistants
Robust voice recognition accuracy is a prerequisite for a digital lab assistant. Most are built on a natural language processing model with 97% accuracy. They are able to recognize accented English and most can recognize commands in additional languages (commonly German, French, or Spanish). They integrate easily with LIMS or ELN and often with lab instruments, providing an audit trail and increased data integrity. All data is captured hands-free, which makes them well-suited for use in the field or in settings where personal protective equipment must be worn.
The learning curve for a voice-activated lab assistant is fast (as long as you’re not implementing new laboratory informatics software simultaneously), as they all come with support and customization to integrate seamlessly with your existing workflows. All digital lab assistants increase productivity and efficiency. Each voice-activated lab assistant will enable process and data standardization.
Each of these products has differentiators that may make one more suited for use in your environment than another.
Ascenscia Features and Use Cases
Ascenscia is an Eppendorf product that is compatible with their eLabNext suite of products, specifically eLabInventory and eLabJournal. It is capable of step-by-step guidance through protocols and of interfacing with inventory to locate samples in the lab. Ascenscia will record experiment notes for the scientist at the bench. Unique features of Ascenscia include:
- Capable of recognizing speech in five languages
- Data is saved in the ELN, not in the app
Ascenscia requires a valid ELN license but is free to download. It is suited for small labs like those in academia or startups. It can scale as your organization grows, with robust data integrity and increased efficiency.
LabTwin Features and Use Cases
LabTwin was the world’s first voice-powered digital lab assistant in 2019. LabTwin has many market-leading features, including its ability to capture and structure data in real time, meaning that it can populate tables of experiment data for export to any ELN or LIMS. LabTwin has a powerful AI backbone that can help to design protocols and experiments. Unique features of LabTwin include:
- Can be used by multiple scientists at the same time
- Provides audiovisual SOP guidance
- Uses the device camera for visual documentation
LabTwin is well suited for a wide range of environments, including clean rooms or in the dark. When your hands are full or you’re encased in protective gear, LabTwin will accurately capture your notes and observations, whether you’re speaking English or German.
LOTTIE Features and Use Cases
With the release of LabVantage version 8.7, the LabVantage Portal accepts voice commands based on the LabVantage Open Talk Interactive Experience (LOTTIE). This voice-activated lab assistant can be integrated with your LabVantage instance (it is not a standalone product) to perform functions that users have come to expect from a digital lab assistant. Unique features of LOTTIE include:
- Seamless integration with LabVantage LIMS
- Built into a web client Portal
Choosing the Most Appropriate Voice-activated Lab Assistant
Your choice of a voice-activated lab assistant will depend in part on your existing lab informatics footprint. It will also depend on your lab’s size and the specific functions you currently require or anticipate needing in the future. Use the resources presented here to do your research, and of course, let us know if we can help.