Custom Lab Automation Software Built With You, Not For You

Lab automation software is the layer that orchestrates instruments, samples, methods, and operators across a laboratory workflow. It schedules runs, routes samples, captures data, and reports results. The category spans everything from a small single-instrument scheduler to a multi-site, multi-vendor orchestration platform.

A LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System) tracks samples, methods, and results - the lab's information backbone. Lab automation software orchestrates the physical execution - which instrument runs which method on which sample at what time. The two integrate, but they solve different problems and have different vendors.

Off-the-shelf orchestrators work well when your workflow matches the platform's assumptions and your instruments already speak its supported protocols. They struggle when your instruments are mixed-vendor, when your workflow is novel, or when you need AI-native integration without per-device licensing. Custom is the right call when no platform fits cleanly - which is most biotech startups and most instrument-builder R&D groups. We integrate against SiLA 2 and MCP so the work stays vendor-neutral.

We integrate via SiLA 2 servers, vendor SDKs we evaluate per engagement, or proprietary protocols when needed. Our open-source openapi-to-sila2 library accelerates the SiLA 2 path significantly. The integration layer is a deliverable, not a dependency.

Modern lab automation should be AI-native by design - meaning the orchestrator exposes structured APIs (or an MCP server) that AI agents can discover and operate, with safety policies and human-in-the-loop approval built in. We build to this pattern by default. When an AI copilot arrives later, the integration takes days. Our [Agentic AI page](/agentic-ai) covers the model in detail.

A focused custom orchestrator for a single workflow on existing instruments runs 3-6 months. A larger multi-instrument platform with new integrations and a custom UI runs 6-12 months at our pod cadence. We always start with a 1-week scoping engagement to size honestly.

Architecturally yes - audit trails, electronic-signature flows, time-correlated logging, immutable history, role-based access. Validation evidence is your QMS work; we provide the architecture, the documentation, and validation impact assessments. We have shipped instrument software in clinical-grade IVD environments before.