Insider Brief
- HighRes and Opentrons announced a strategic partnership to develop an AI agent-to-agent laboratory workflow that connects software-driven experiment planning directly to physical execution in automated labs.
- The collaboration integrates Opentrons’ modular robotic platforms and AI-enabled protocol tools with HighRes’ orchestration and scheduling software to enable end-to-end workflows that scale from bench-level automation to coordinated, multi-instrument operations.
- The companies plan to demonstrate the integrated system at SLAS 2026, positioning interoperability and open APIs as core design principles to support AI-driven experimentation and continuous data integration in research and biopharma labs.
HighRes and Opentrons announced they have entered a strategic partnership to develop and demonstrate what they describe as the first AI agent-to-agent laboratory workflow, aiming to link software-driven intent directly with physical execution in automated labs.
“We see Opentrons as an innovative partner that has driven democratization of lab automation through cost-effective, capable liquid handling and more accessible, agentic protocol creation,” HighRes CEO Ira Hoffman said in the announcement. “We share that philosophy, and together we’re unlocking greater speed and access for scientists while maintaining the reliability and repeatability life science organizations demand.”
Under the collaboration, Opentrons’ modular robotic platforms and AI-enabled protocol tools will be integrated with HighRes’ orchestration and scheduling software to create end-to-end laboratory workflows that can be planned, executed and scaled with less manual intervention. The companies said the system is designed to let scientists move from natural-language experiment design to automated bench execution, while maintaining the reliability and repeatability required in regulated life science environments.
“This is a joint effort to rethink how automation actually gets used in real labs,” James Atwood, CEO of Opentrons, said. “With HighRes, we’re creating a tightly integrated system where AI-driven intent is translated directly into reliable, physical execution at the bench.”
The partnership brings together Opentrons’ bench-friendly liquid handling systems with HighRes’ lab automation infrastructure, which is widely used to coordinate complex, multi-instrument workflows. By combining robotics, orchestration software and AI-driven planning, the companies are positioning the platform as a pathway from entry-level automation to fully orchestrated laboratory operations as workflow complexity increases.
The companies plan to debut a live demonstration of the integrated system at SLAS 2026, showing how autonomous software agents communicate across platforms to generate and execute semi-automated experimental workflows. Both companies said interoperability is a core design principle, with open APIs intended to allow Opentrons’ systems to operate alongside third-party instruments within HighRes’ orchestration environment.
