Blog • HighRes

Your Daily Co-Pilot for Lab Automation

Written by HighRes | Jun 25, 2026 2:50:07 PM

Cellario Lab Assistant™ is a natural language interface built into the Cellario platform. Powered by the Cellario Atlas™ knowledge base, 20 years of accumulated expertise across devices, protocols, science, and systems, Lab Assistant enables scientists and automation engineers to interrogate, plan, and execute lab workflows through conversation (Video 1).

Video 1. Cellario Lab Assistant, powered by the Cellario Atlas knowledge base, revolutionizes lab automation with a natural language interface for seamless workflows.

Built on the Cellario Atlas™ Knowledge Base

At the core of Lab Assistant is Cellario Atlas: a curated, continuously growing repository of HighRes' knowledge about laboratory instruments, automation architectures, assay methodologies, and scientific workflows. Atlas is what transforms Lab Assistant from a general-purpose AI interface into a domain-expert co-pilot.

When you ask Lab Assistant a question, it draws on Atlas to provide answers grounded in real automation practice, not generic responses.

Key Capabilities

The demo walkthrough illustrates four core areas where Lab Assistant delivers immediate value:

CAPABILITY

WHAT IT DOES

Lab Orientation

Instantly surface all system capabilities, instruments, and available protocols across any configured lab environment.

Protocol Matching

Upload a manufacturer SOP or assay guide and receive an automated recommendation for the most suitable automation platform.

Protocol Generation

Generate a complete Cellario Scheduler™ protocol, with step analysis, material mapping, device allocation, and confidence scoring.

System State Monitoring

Interrogate live system states, flag errors, and initiate guided troubleshooting workflows directly in conversation.

Demo Walkthrough

1. Lab Orientation: “Tell me about all my systems and the science I can achieve.”

A new user can ask Lab Assistant to survey an entire lab environment. Lab Assistant queries all connected Cellario Scheduler instances, inventories available devices and protocols, and uses Atlas to infer the scientific workflows each platform can support.

The result is a structured, readable summary: scientific focus areas, instrument capabilities, and existing protocols across every system in the lab. In the demo, this spans four integrated systems covering high-throughput screening, genomics and molecular biology, cell engineering, antibody discovery, ELISA, and qPCR.

2. Protocol Matching: Uploading a Manufacturer SOP

Lab Assistant accepts external documents such as manufacturer assay guides. In the demo, a 25-page Promega CellTiter-Glo® Assay protocol is uploaded and the question asked: which system is most suitable for this assay?

Lab Assistant reads the document, identifies the steps amenable to automation, checks for existing protocols on connected platforms, and returns a ranked recommendation. In this case, the flexible screening work cell (VM0001) is identified as the best match both in terms of capability and available protocols.

3. Protocol Generation: From SOP to Scheduler Protocol

Using the /protocol command, Lab Assistant advances from recommendation to execution. Drawing on the uploaded SOP, the identified platform, and a short series of clarifying questions (plate format, volume, compound treatment duration), it generates a complete Cellario Scheduler protocol.

The generation process runs through four structured stages:

  • Assay Analysis: Step classification, criticality scoring, timing constraints
  • Material Analysis: Reagent volumes, overage estimates, consumable requirements
  • Device Allocation: Matching each automated step to an available instrument, with confidence scores and alternatives listed
  • Protocol Output: A Scheduler-ready dual-thread protocol, publishable directly to the connected system

In the demo, the dispense step is allocated to a MultiDrop Combi for bulk reagent dispensing, with alternative devices noted. The protocol is then ready for review, further editing, and execution.

KEY DETAIL

Lab Assistant surfaces critical timing constraints automatically. In the CellTiter-Glo example, it identifies that reagent addition to plate read must occur within 720 seconds, ensuring this constraint is preserved in the generated protocol.

4. System State & Error Handling

Beyond protocol work, Lab Assistant can be used to monitor live system states, understand active errors, and guide operators through structured troubleshooting workflows. This is an area of growing value as teams use conversational AI to resolve complex issues in real time without requiring specialist support on site.

Why It Matters

Lab automation has historically required deep specialist knowledge to configure, program, and troubleshoot. Lab Assistant changes the access model: the expertise is embedded in the platform, available to any user through a familiar conversational interface.

For labs onboarding new scientists, adapting existing assays to automation, or scaling operations across multiple systems, Lab Assistant significantly reduces the time from intent to execution.

Ready to explore what Lab Assistant can do for your automation project?

Cellario Lab Assistant is currently in beta. The product is under active development, with simulation and in-platform protocol editing capabilities coming in the near term. Schedule an in-depth demo with a product specialist today!

Join the Early Access Beta Program

If you would like to learn more or discuss joining the program, get in touch with us!

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