Opentrons :: Democratize Laboratory Automation

Opentrons (Opentrons Labworks Inc.) is a leading life sciences automation company founded in 2014 and headquartered in Long Island City, New York. The company’s mission is to democratize laboratory automation, making powerful, flexible, and affordable robotic systems accessible to scientists in academic, biotech, synthetic biology, clinical, and industrial research labs worldwide. Opentrons has shipped thousands of robots to over 40 countries and built a large open-source ecosystem that allows researchers to share protocols, reproduce results, and accelerate discovery. The company operates two main business units: Opentrons Robotics (liquid handling automation) and Neochromosome (genome-scale cell engineering).

Opentrons focuses on user-friendly, open-architecture robots that lower the barrier to automation. Their platforms support both no-code and advanced Python programming, making them suitable for beginners and expert developers alike.

Key Robot-Based Products:

• Opentrons Flex: The current flagship liquid handling robot. It is a highly modular, AI-enabled workstation that can be configured for a wide range of applications. The Flex supports multiple pipetting modules, heaters, shakers, magnetic modules, and other lab instruments. It is optimized for high-throughput workflows such as NGS library preparation, proteomics sample prep, nucleic acid extraction, PCR setup, and ELISA assays. The system features advanced vision, improved deck capacity, and seamless integration with OpentronsAI for natural language protocol generation.
• Opentrons OT-2: The previous generation robot that became extremely popular due to its affordability and open-source nature. It remains widely used and fully supported, serving as an entry point for many labs into automation.
• OpentronsAI & Protocol Designer: Powerful software tools that allow users to create, simulate, and run protocols using natural language or a drag-and-drop interface. The open-source Python API and extensive Protocol Library (shared by the global community) further enhance flexibility.
• Assay-Ready Workstations and OEM Partnerships: Pre-configured, validated workstations for specific applications, plus custom hardware integration services for partners.

Opentrons emphasizes openness (full GitHub access), community collaboration, and practical automation that scales with science. Their robots have helped thousands of labs reduce manual pipetting time, improve reproducibility, and accelerate research. The company continues to innovate with AI enhancements, better hardware modularity, and expanded application support.