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Robotic crowd biology with Maholo LabDroids

Nature Biotechnology volume 35, pages 310–312 (2017)Cite this article

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To the Editor:

Concerns about the lack of reproducibility of experimental research1,2, the numerous labor-intensive tasks required for high-throughput research, and the dangers (and costs) associated with experiments involving pathogens and harmful reagents led us to set up a Robotic Biology Consortium. We believe that the use of humanoid robots (which we term 'LabDroids') to carry out life science research experiments has the potential to minimize the above problems.

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Figure 1: LabDroid system.
Figure 2: Robotic crowd biology concept.

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Acknowledgements

We greatly thank H. Maruyama for early discussion on the concept of robotic crowd biology. N.Y. was supported by PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Nozomu Yachie, Soh Ishiguro, Hideto Mori, Daniel Evans-Yamamoto & Nanami Masuyama

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Nozomu Yachie

  3. Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, Tsuruoka, Japan

    Nozomu Yachie, Koichi Takahashi, Satoshi Tamaki, Soh Ishiguro, Hideto Mori, Daniel Evans-Yamamoto, Nanami Masuyama & Masaru Tomita

  4. PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo, Japan

    Nozomu Yachie

  5. Spiber, Inc., Tsuruoka, Japan

    Nozomu Yachie

  6. Molecular Profiling Research Center for Drug Discovery, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Tomohisa Hatta, Tohru Natsume & Tohru Natsume

  7. Robotic Biology Institute, Inc., Tokyo, Japan

    Koichi Takahashi, Takeshi Sakurada, Genki N. Kanda, Eiji Takagi, Takako Hirose, Kenji Matsukuma, Shinji Murai, Naoyuki Sasaki, Tatsuro Ipposhi, Hideo Urabe, Taku Kudo, Tomohisa Hatta, Tohru Natsume, Yosuke Ozawa & Tohru Natsume

  8. RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center, Osaka, Japan

    Koichi Takahashi & Genki N. Kanda

  9. Database Center for Life Science (DBCLS), Joint Support-Center for Data Science Research, Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), Kashiwa, Japan

    Toshiaki Katayama & Toshiaki Katayama

  10. Japan Research Industries and Industrial Technology Association, Tsukuba, Japan

    Tatsuo Katsura & Tetsuo Moriya

  11. The Systems Biology Institute, Tokyo, Japan

    Hiroaki Kitano

  12. Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc., Tokyo, Japan

    Hiroaki Kitano

  13. RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Kanagawa, Japan

    Hiroaki Kitano

  14. Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa, Japan

    Hiroaki Kitano

  15. Artificial Intelligence Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Junichi Tsujii

  16. School of Computer Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Junichi Tsujii

  17. Biomedical Robot Department, Robotics Division, YASKAWA Electric Corporation, Kyushu, Japan

    Tomoyuki Shiraki, Hirokazu Kariyazaki, Motohisa Kamei, Noriko Abe, Takuya Fukuda, Yukiko Sawada, Yukio Hashiguchi, Kenji Matsukuma, Shinji Murai, Tatsuro Ipposhi, Hideo Urabe, Taku Kudo, Makoto Umeno, Seiki Ono, Kohei Miyauchi, Miki Nakamura, Takahiro Kizaki & Takashi Suyama

  18. Database Center for Life Science (DBCLS), Joint Support-Center for Data Science Research, Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), Mishima, Japan

    Tazro Ohta

  19. MOLCURE, Inc., Tokyo, Japan

    Shoji Ihara & Satoshi Tamaki

  20. Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Erick Antezana

  21. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos (ETSINF), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Alexander Garcia-Castro

  22. Chemin de Belleroche 14, Neuchatel, Switzerland

    Jean-Luc Perret

  23. Division of Proteomics, Research Center for Transomics Medicine, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, Kyushu, Japan

    Masaki Matsumoto & Keiichi I. Nakayama

  24. RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Kanagawa, Japan

    Hiroshi Nakayama

  25. Institute for Innovation, Ajinomoto Co., Inc., Kawasaki, Japan

    Ayaka Shirasawa, Kazutaka Shimbo & Naoyuki Yamada

  26. Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, Kyushu, Japan

    Keiichi I. Nakayama

  27. Department of Pathophysiology, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hoshi University, Tokyo, Japan

    Takatsune Shimizu

  28. Division of Gene Regulation, Institute for Advanced Medical Research, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan

    Takatsune Shimizu & Hideyuki Saya

  29. Department of Systems BioMedicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

    Satoshi Yamashita, Takahide Matsushima & Hiroshi Asahara

  30. Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Hidetoshi Eguchi, Manabu Mikamori & Masaki Mori

Authors
  1. Nozomu Yachie
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  2. Tohru Natsume
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Consortia

Robotic Biology Consortium

  • Koichi Takahashi
  • , Toshiaki Katayama
  • , Takeshi Sakurada
  • , Genki N. Kanda
  • , Eiji Takagi
  • , Takako Hirose
  • , Tatsuo Katsura
  • , Tetsuo Moriya
  • , Hiroaki Kitano
  • , Junichi Tsujii
  • , Tomoyuki Shiraki
  • , Hirokazu Kariyazaki
  • , Motohisa Kamei
  • , Noriko Abe
  • , Takuya Fukuda
  • , Yukiko Sawada
  • , Yukio Hashiguchi
  • , Kenji Matsukuma
  • , Shinji Murai
  • , Naoyuki Sasaki
  • , Tatsuro Ipposhi
  • , Hideo Urabe
  • , Taku Kudo
  • , Makoto Umeno
  • , Seiki Ono
  • , Kohei Miyauchi
  • , Miki Nakamura
  • , Takahiro Kizaki
  • , Takashi Suyama
  • , Tomohisa Hatta
  • , Tohru Natsume
  • , Tazro Ohta
  • , Yosuke Ozawa
  • , Shoji Ihara
  • , Satoshi Tamaki
  • , Erick Antezana
  • , Alexander Garcia-Castro
  • , Jean-Luc Perret
  • , Soh Ishiguro
  • , Hideto Mori
  • , Daniel Evans-Yamamoto
  • , Nanami Masuyama
  • , Masaru Tomita
  • , Toshiaki Katayama
  • , Masaki Matsumoto
  • , Hiroshi Nakayama
  • , Ayaka Shirasawa
  • , Kazutaka Shimbo
  • , Naoyuki Yamada
  • , Keiichi I. Nakayama
  • , Takatsune Shimizu
  • , Hideyuki Saya
  • , Satoshi Yamashita
  • , Takahide Matsushima
  • , Hiroshi Asahara
  • , Hidetoshi Eguchi
  • , Manabu Mikamori
  •  & Masaki Mori

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tohru Natsume.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

Many of the Robotic Biology Consortium members are employees of and/or hold stock in the Robotic Biology Institute or Yaskawa Electric Corp.

Additional information

Members of the Robotic Biology Consortium Steering Group: Nozomu Yachie, Koichi Takahashi, Toshiaki Katayama, Takeshi Sakurada, Genki N. Kanda, Eiji Takagi, Takako Hirose, Tatsuo Katsura, Tetsuo Moriya, Hiroaki Kitano, Junichi Tsujii, and Tohru Natsume Robotics Group: Tomoyuki Shiraki, Hirokazu Kariyazaki, Motohisa Kamei, Noriko Abe, Takuya Fukuda, Yukiko Sawada, Yukio Hashiguchi, Kenji Matsukuma, Shinji Murai, Naoyuki Sasaki, Tatsuro Ipposhi, Hideo Urabe, Taku Kudo, Makoto Umeno, Seiki Ono, Kohei Miyauchi, Miki Nakamura, Takahiro Kizaki, Takashi Suyama, Tomohisa Hatta, and Tohru Natsume Information Technology Group: Tazro Ohta, Koichi Takahashi, Yosuke Ozawa, Nozomu Yachie, Takeshi Sakurada, Kenji Matsukuma, Shinji Murai, Shoji Ihara, Satoshi Tamaki, Erick Antezana, Alexander Garcia-Castro, Jean-Luc Perret, Soh Ishiguro, Hideto Mori, Daniel Evans-Yamamoto, Nanami Masuyama, Masaru Tomita, Junichi Tsujii, Toshiaki Katayama, and Hiroaki Kitano Proteomics Group: Tomohisa Hatta, Masaki Matsumoto, Hiroshi Nakayama, Ayaka Shirasawa, Kazutaka Shimbo, Naoyuki Yamada, Keiichi I. Nakayama, and Tohru Natsume High-Content Cell Screening Group: Takatsune Shimizu and Hideyuki Saya Epigenetics Group: Satoshi Yamashita, Takahide Matsushima, and Hiroshi Asahara Clinical Group: Hidetoshi Eguchi, Manabu Mikamori, and Masaki Mori

Supplementary information

Supplementary Movie 1

Examples of laboratory automations achieved by Maholo (MOV 19459 kb)

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Yachie, N., Robotic Biology Consortium. & Natsume, T. Robotic crowd biology with Maholo LabDroids. Nat Biotechnol 35, 310–312 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.3758

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