Lab Automation
Made Easy

Our process is straightforward and designed to ensure a seamless transition to lab automation. Here's how it works:

1. Initial Call - The goal is to understand your lab's current setup, challenges and automation goals. This allows us to figure out if we are a good fit for your problem.
2. Lab Visit & Assessment - If we see a strong fit, we schedule an on-site visit to check the setup firsthand and discuss in more detail your expectations and automation goals.
3. Planning and Agreement - We collaborate with you to finalize an automation plan, ensuring it meets your requirements and integrates smoothly into your workflow.
4. Implementation & Optimization - Once we begin implementation, we work closely with your team, ideally shadowing the current operators to refine and optimize the system for seamless adoption.

Automation doesn't have to be complicated. We keep things fast and easy—within a couple of weeks, you'll see the plan, and within a month or two, your setup will be automated.

A lab automation engineer would need to build a full software stack from scratch to coordinate equipment, handle data extraction, and manage communication between machines. While this is possible, it's not the most efficient use of their time.

Instead, we recommend that your automation engineer focus on what truly matters—developing new methods and protocols for your machines, rather than reinventing the integration layer.

We've already solved the integration problem with software that is easily deployable, acting as the "connective tissue" between your machines. Our software handles coordination, data extraction, and monitoring out of the box, allowing us to implement workflows much faster than starting from scratch.

If you're considering hiring a software engineer for integration, we'd be happy to have a conversation first. Think of it as a quick screening—our perspective might help you refine your approach, and we may even be a good fit for your needs.

If you don't need a full lab redesign, a traditional automation company might not be the best fit. We work with relatively small setups of 1-10 instruments where the goal is quick integration and automation.

Traditional automation companies specialize in large-scale lab redesigns, which often involve long planning phases and require purchasing their proprietary tables, racks, and robotic arms. For smaller setups, these additions can be unnecessary and costly.

Our approach is different. We work with your existing setup and only add equipment when needed. When we do, we prioritize cost-effective solutions—such as non-bio-branded robotic arms or even 3D-printed parts—making our approach significantly more affordable, often by an order of magnitude (or two).

Our method eliminates many of the unnecessary steps that often make labs hesitant to start automating their setups.

Traditional lab automation companies default to installing state-of-the-art, bio-labeled equipment, even when general-purpose alternatives exist at a fraction of the cost. A startup-minded approach, on the other hand, would buy the same type of equipment—whether it's fridges, robotic arms, or incubators—without the inflated price tag of biotech branding.

Another cost-saving strategy we use is customization when it makes sense. Instead of installing an expensive plate hotel or specialized rack, we consider 3D printing or other cost-effective alternatives that provide the same functionality at a lower cost.

This approach is especially valuable when budget is a concern, the setup is temporary or expected to grow, or space is limited. Our goal is to make automation work for you as if you had hired a lab automation engineer—but with 10x the speed.

Our speed comes from our powerful plug-and-play orchestration engine, which is already built to seamlessly connect lab equipment, robots, and even people.

Typically, a significant amount of time is spent developing infrastructure—writing code to coordinate instruments, automate execution, and create user interfaces. With our system, this foundation is already in place, eliminating much of that work and allowing us to focus on what truly matters:

• Understanding your process – We spend time learning how your lab operates to ensure automation fits your workflow.
• Planning and configuration – We integrate your equipment with the Makana engine, ensuring smooth coordination.
• Building necessary interfaces – If required, we create custom connections between our system and your instruments or personnel.
• Instrument programming (if needed) – If you need us to program specific instruments beyond automation, this may add some additional time.

By removing the need to build automation infrastructure from scratch, we dramatically reduce implementation time and get your system up and running much faster than traditional methods.