Tsubame Lab
"BeyondAutomation"
Tsubame Lab, a 2025 Tokyo startup from Science Tokyo researchers, automates R&D labs using robotic arms and AMRs run on its open-source Tsubame Studio platform.
Tsubame Lab, Inc. is a Tokyo-based startup founded on April 18, 2025 by CEO Koshiro Narazaki and a team of researchers originating from Science Tokyo (the Institute of Science Tokyo, formed from the former Tokyo Institute of Technology), building automation systems for scientific research and development operations.
The company's stated premise is that, despite decades of technological progress, most laboratory work still relies on manual, repetitive human labor, which consumes researchers' time that could otherwise go toward creative, higher-value scientific questions; Tsubame Lab positions its products as removing that bottleneck.
Its offerings span three areas: Custom Lab Automation, in which the company designs and builds experiment-automation systems tailored to a specific lab's existing equipment and workflows; Cloud Lab, a remotely accessible research infrastructure service that lets researchers run experiments over the internet without being physically present; and Tsubame Studio, a shared control software platform for operating lab-automation hardware, which the company has released as open source under the GNU AGPL-3.0 license.
The company's solutions are built around a combination of robotic arms and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) integrated with functional lab modules and coordinated through the Tsubame Studio control layer; the company publicly demonstrated its robotic-arm and AMR lab-automation systems at the LADEC2026 event in July 2026.
Tsubame Lab operates multiple facilities in Tokyo in addition to its Yushima headquarters, including a wet lab located on Science Tokyo's Yushima/Surugadai campus and a Shirahige-Nishi R&D center in Arakawa-ku, reflecting close operational ties to its home research institution.
The team combines backgrounds in life sciences, robotics, hardware engineering, and AI/software, targeting pharmaceutical, biotech, chemistry, and academic research laboratories that need to scale up experimental throughput without proportionally scaling headcount. As an early-stage company founded in 2025, Tsubame Lab has not published detailed customer lists, revenue figures, or employee headcount on its website; its public technical detail is limited to descriptions of its Custom Lab Automation, Cloud Lab, and Tsubame Studio offerings and the open-source release of its control software.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
Tsubame Studio
- Launch Year: 2026
Open-source lab automation control platform (AGPL-3.0) that lets researchers direct robotic arms and instruments via natural language or block programming.
Core Cloud Lab
Centralized, fully automated experiment facility operated by Tsubame Lab that researchers access remotely; full operation targeted for 2027.
Contact Tsubame Lab
WEBSITE
https://www.tsubamelab.com/enHEADQUARTERS
Japan
Company Facts
Founded
2025
Primary Role
System Integrator
Company Size
-
Primary Region
Asia-Pacific
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
-
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