Mr. Yuya Tahara (Arai)(4th year student, Humanics) has been published a co-first-author peer-reviewed paper in *Digital Discovery* on Labware-Layout Planner, a software system that generates robot-agnostic labware layouts from natural language experimental protocols and placement constraints.
Mr. Yuya Tahara (Arai)(4th year student, Humanics) has been published a co-first-author peer-reviewed paper in *Digital Discovery* on Labware-Layout Planner, a software system that generates robot-agnostic labware layouts from natural language experimental protocols and placement constraints.
Title : Constraint-aware labware layout generation from natural language for heterogeneous laboratory robots
Authors : Yuya Tahara-Arai, Takashi Inagaki, Akari Kato, Koji Ochiai, Kazuya Azumi, Koichi Takahashi, Genki N. Kanda, Haruka Ozaki
Journal： Digital Discovery Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
Publication information：Digital Discovery, 2026, Advance Article DOI: 10.1039/D6DD00026F First published: 14 May 2026
[Message from Mr. Yuya Tahara (Arai)]
In this study, we focused on the preparatory task of deciding where each piece of labware should be placed, which has often depended on researchers’ experience and tacit knowledge in laboratory automation.
By combining life-science experiments, robotics, LLMs, and constraint solving, we aimed to bridge natural language experimental descriptions and physical robotic execution.
The Humanics programme provides opportunities to identify underexplored problems between life science, informatics, and engineering, and to develop them into new research directions.
