Emerging from the field of biochemistry and pharmaceutical research, combinatorial and high-throughput synthesis and screening methodologies are rapidly being adopted in polymer and materials research. Alternative solutions to cost intensive custom-made synthetic robot systems have become commercially available and further accelerate this field of research not just in industry, but also in an academic environment. High-throughput analysis, materials characterization, and testing (surface energy, hardness, wettability, crystallinity etc.) are key techniques and require suitable instrumentation. Here we present a short overview of recent developments of robotic synthesizers and analytical equipment extending the review from January 2003.