Improving Workforce Development with Laboratory Automation

Workforce development efforts that include laboratory components face many challenges, including budget constraints and limited access to equipment. We define the desired capabilities of a laboratory automation platform that can help overcome these challenges and expand the reach of workforce development efforts, accelerating the growth of a well-qualified workforce. This paper presents an automated microelectronics lab experimentation platform called Benches. We describe how Benches incorporates many of these desired features and provides additional benefits for workforce development efforts.