He/she/it is not nearly as cute and loveable as R2-D2 or C-3PO. But LabDroid, the humanoid robot lab assistant that works 24x7 doing the tedious yet critical manual benchwork upon which every lab relies, is real. And it could become a fixture in testing labs in the years to come. Should that come to pass, the collaboration between Pacific Biosciences and the Japan-based Robotic Biology Institute (RBI) announced on May 9 may prove to be a crucial turning point.

The RBI LabDroid Robot

LabDroid is a data analytics platform with a rectangular body flanked by dual arms, making it capable of performing testing, sample preparation, and other lab activities typically performed by hand. It’s literally the creature of RBI, a biotech company created in 2015 to design and manufacture robots that can be used to automate end-to-end lab functions to free up labor, eliminate human error, and relieve scientists from laborious manual tasks so they can concentrate on scientific analysis and creativity.

The PacBio/RBI/iLAC Collaboration

Along with Japanese genome analysis company iLAC, RBI and PacBio will work together to explore LabDroid’s capacity to automate sample preparation workflows for the latter’s Sequel II and Sequel IIe HiFi long-read sequencing systems. Specifically, they hope to use LabDroid to develop and validate automated, high-throughput workflows for iLAC’s genomic services facility in Tsukuba, Japan. These automated workflows will support whole-genome sequencing, targeted sequencing, and Iso-Seq, PacBio’s isoform-resolution transcriptome application, on the Sequel II and Sequel IIe platforms.

“We believe this collaboration, and the automated sequencing workflows that may result from it, could support broader adoption of long-read sequencing in the market,” noted PacBio chief commercial officer Peter Fromen in a statement.

“By working with PacBio to automate its applications and workflows on RBI’s LabDroid, we believe we can optimize data consistency especially for larger projects, while reducing cost,” added iLAC president and CEO Taka-Aki Sato in a press release. “We believe this collaboration will enable us to bring the advantages of highly accurate long-read sequencing to more scientists.”

The sides didn’t disclose the financial and other terms of the collaboration.

Laboratory Robotics

Of course, the concept of automating laboratory functions via robotics is nothing new. Worldwide, there are over 100 companies that develop and manufacture such technology. However, LabDroid is the first humanoid robot designed especially for biological research and development use. The PacBio/RBI/iLAC partnership is also the latest version of a growing interest in automating sample and library preparation for sequencing.

PacBio has been an active player in this trend. In January, the Menlo Park, California-based life science company entered into a similar partnership with lab automation firm Hamilton aimed at automating high-molecular weight DNA extraction. Three months later, it teamed up with startups Volta Labs and Miroculus for automated platforms for next-generation sequencing.

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Here’s a summary of some of other key strategic diagnostic deals announced in May 2022:

Strategic Alliances, Partnerships, & Collaborations

Distribution, Sales, & Marketing Agreements

Licenses

Government Contracts