Self-Driving Lab

LIVE (mostly)

Who this is for

Research teams, equipment vendors (ChemSpeed, Opentrons, and similar), academic collaborators, internal engineering. Most family users never open SDL — the data it produces flows into the same research layer that supports Family Navigator surfaces.

Three operating modes

• Connected — physical equipment wired through a Pi 5 MCP bridge and USB-serial devices.
• Simulation — scripted profiles without hardware. Used for development, demos, and protocol dry-runs.
• Hybrid — mixed, per-device.

The shell

Full-screen modal with five groups: DESIGN · OPERATE · ANALYZE · EQUIPMENT · ADMIN. Ralph and Shoggoth pinned at the bottom. Top bar: MCP status, Pi 5 bridge, compliance state, breadcrumb. Pop out to a separate window for second-monitor operation.

Dashboard and equipment

Isometric lab visualization. Live telemetry (temperature, CO₂, humidity). Per-instrument tabs: bioreactor, microscopy, robot arm, OT-2 deck, Cytomat 2 incubator, centrifuge, camera system, Pi 5 MCP bridge, BSC hood, autoclave, Pico 2 microcontroller, Pico-Relay-B, haptics.

Protocols and campaigns

Templated protocols with evidence-class labels (E0–E4) and explicit parameter ranges. Campaigns as multi-experiment state machines — Draft · Queued · Running · Paused · Completed · Failed · Aborted.

Samples and lifecycle

7-state lifecycle: received · in prep · in use · stored · consumed · discarded · transferred. Full lineage tracking forward and backward through derivation events.

Safety

E-Stop station registry with per-station state: Armed · TRIPPED · Offline · Stale · Wiring Fault · Unknown. Normally-closed fail-safe wiring, IRQ-based firmware handlers. Firmware Manager with A/B slot boot, three-strike rollback, structured flight recorder.

Validation

IQ/OQ/PQ wizard. No step auto-passes. Exports DOCX or PDF for FDA 21 CFR Part 11 audit packs. Runs entirely offline.

Self-audit tools

• Ralph Mode — diagnostic UI-polish sweep. Diagnoses; does not auto-fix.
• Shoggoth Mode — 4-model security/compliance audit with severity and blast radius.
• Dream Cycle — background memory consolidation across sessions.
• Developer Workspace — developer-mode only, hidden by default.

Why it exists

A unified shell across instruments is a precondition for cross-equipment automation. Safety wiring and validation evidence are first-class, not afterthoughts.