Program

NEW [Chemspeed]

Organizers: AMR, Inc.

Details will be announced soon.

[TECAN]

Organizers: Tecan Trading AG

Details will be announced soon.

[Robotics] Robotics Technologies Powering LA Today and a Vision for Tomorrow

Organizers: Makoto Jinno (Kokushikan University), Makoto Umeno (BAIKEIDO LLC, RIKEN)

This session provides an overview of robotics and mechatronics technologies in LA from the perspectives of hardware and system integration. It will showcase concrete examples of automation and efficiency gains through diverse robotic platforms, alongside an exploration of how the latest technologies will continue to evolve LA. Implementation essentials such as end-effectors and mechanism design will also be covered. Drawing on practical insights for researchers, developers, and users alike, the session will look toward the future of robotics in LA.

[Material Handling] How Do You Handle Diverse Materials? Automating Chemistry & Materials Experiments: The Ground-Level Reality from Launch to Stable Operation

Organizers: Kazuki Ishizaki (The University of Tokyo), Shigeru Kobayashi (The University of Tokyo)

Language: Japanese

In the automation of chemistry and materials research, standardized instruments and protocols are not always readily available. Many challenges only become visible once you're actually in the field—device integration, sample handling, error recovery, and designing operations that keep experiments running without interruption. Drawing on case studies from areas such as polymer molding, thin films, alloys, and dielectrics, this session will explore the practical realities of building and operating automated experimental systems in material science. It will serve as a forum for discussing chemistry and materials automation from two key angles: where the real difficulties lie when bringing a system online, and what design choices and ingenuity are needed to sustain uninterrupted operation.

[Automated Synthesis Operations] How Do You Actually Migrate All Those Organic Chemistry Experiments We've Been Slogging Through by Hand? The Long, Steep, and Painfully Difficult Road from Launch to Stable Operation

Organizer: Yuuya Nagata (NIMS)

Language: Japanese

Automated synthesis systems are increasingly making their way into organic chemistry labs — but don't be fooled into thinking that simply installing a robot will instantly accelerate your research. Organic synthesis has evolved over decades, built on the accumulated experience and hands-on skill of researchers. As a result, a wealth of tacit knowledge — the kind that never makes it into written protocols — plays a decisive role in whether a synthesis succeeds or fails. On top of that, automated synthesis systems come with their own operational and process constraints. Adapting reagent supply and purification workflows to the equipment, and integrating data collection with experimental planning, adds further complexity. Simply swapping out traditional procedures for a machine is far from straightforward. This session focuses on the process of transitioning organic chemistry experiments to automated systems, and will explore the trial-and-error and real-world challenges encountered from the early stages of equipment introduction through to actual operation. We also believe these challenges are not unique to organic chemistry — they are shared across many experimental science disciplines. Researchers from all fields are warmly welcome.

[Cell Olympics] Defining the Events: Standard Tasks in Cell Manufacturing Processes

Organizers: Ayato Sugiyama (Astellas Pharma Inc.), Seiji Hori (VCCT Inc.)

Language: Japanese

Cell manufacturing is growing in importance across a wide range of fields — from regenerative medicine and cultivated meat/cellular agriculture to drug discovery. Yet the automation goals driving each of these fields are not necessarily the same. The metrics that matter most vary: quality, reproducibility, scale, cost, and throughput all carry different weight depending on the context. This session will examine the key distinctions between cell "culture" and cell "manufacturing," while exploring the challenges of automation in cell production. It will also look at reframing manufacturing steps — such as cell seeding, media exchange, and quality assessment — as discrete "automation tasks," with the aim of defining a shared set of challenges that researchers and industry can work toward together.

[Life Science Lab Integration] Frontiers in Automated Workflow Design and Technology Integration for Life Science Experiments

Organizers: Takanori Uzawa (RIKEN), Atsushi Shibai (RIKEN)

Language: Japanese

Laboratory automation in the life sciences demands a wide variety of approaches depending on the target. This session presents the latest efforts in automating experimental operations across the life sciences, drawing on cases where automated systems have been built and deployed for diverse research targets — including microbial culture control, liquid dispensing, plant sampling, gut microbiome analysis, and protein sequence optimization. Each presentation will share the challenges encountered during implementation and the solutions devised along the way, with the session as a whole offering practical insights for advancing automation in real research environments.

[AI Infrastructure] The Technical Foundations of AI for Science: "What Doesn't Change" in a Turbulent AI Era

Organizers: Tatsuro Ota (Chiba University), Taku Tsuzuki (Epistra Inc.)

Language: Japanese

Behind the excitement surrounding AI for Science, how are computers actually working — and what limits are they up against? This session focuses on topics that are unlikely to go out of date even as the landscape shifts at a breakneck pace: the realities of data centers converting energy into information, the mechanisms driving continued hardware performance gains, and programming semantics for verifying code correctness. Bringing together experts in infrastructure, accelerators, and software, the session will offer a set of conceptual frameworks to light the way through the years ahead.

[AI-Instrument Integration] Connecting AI Agents to Laboratory Instruments — Where Experimental Science Automation Stands Today and Where It's Headed

Organizer: Ryota Yamada (Science Aid, inc.)

Language: Japanese (English interpretation available)

While the use of AI agents is rapidly expanding in research and development settings, most applications remain confined to tasks that can be completed entirely on a PC — literature review, data analysis, and the like. This session turns the spotlight on the next frontier: connecting AI agents directly to laboratory instruments. Bringing together perspectives from instrument manufacturers, end users, and software developers, it will explore where experimental science automation stands today and the directions it may take in the years ahead.

[Science Automation] Where We Stand on Fully Automating Scientific Research

Organizer: Haruka Ozaki (RIKEN)

Language: Japanese

Laboratory automation has advanced significantly, driven by progress in robotics, AI, and experimental data infrastructure. This session brings together researchers and developers at the forefront of automating the research process, who will share the latest developments in integrated systems spanning experimental planning, execution, and analysis. The discussion will explore where we currently stand on the path toward "full automation" of scientific research — and what lies ahead.

[Foundation Models] Scientific Foundation Models Powering AI for Science

Organizer: Haruka Ozaki (RIKEN)

Language: Japanese

Scientific foundation models are emerging as a powerful new research infrastructure underpinning AI for Science. This session invites researchers at the cutting edge of foundation model development to share real-world examples spanning model design, dataset construction, and application deployment. The discussion will cover the foundational technologies needed for AI to accelerate scientific research — and the road ahead.