In mid-July 2024, a national-level research platform lab welcomed its first batch of humanoid robots. Named Monte2, these robots were co-developed by Yuanluo Technology and the national-level research lab. Their appearance is not sci-fi—two robotic arms and a simple torso—but their operations are precise: accurately transferring micro-volumes of reagents, precisely gripping instruments, autonomously manipulating tools, and completing nucleic acid extraction preprocessing and cytotoxicity culture experiments.
Inside the lab, Monte2 can autonomously perform hundreds of experimental operations without human intervention, including reagent retrieval, reagent preparation, automated liquid dispensing, and cytotoxicity testing, while coordinating multiple pieces of equipment. The director of the national-level research lab stated that introducing humanoid robots can alleviate throughput bottlenecks and consistency issues caused by manual operations. The plan is to expand the robot fleet to approximately 100 units by the end of 2027, with AI-based unified scheduling to further intelligentize lab workflows.
Before deployment in the national-level lab, Monte2 was already in use at BGI Genomics, accumulating practical experience. This deployment is seen as a landmark event in AI for Science moving from scientific computation to experimental execution.