Lab Automation Made Simple: Meet Zeon Systems

Scientific discovery is often romanticized as a realm of breakthrough ideas and groundbreaking results. Yet, behind every eureka moment is an often-overlooked reality: hours of tedious manual labor. From pipetting to weighing, labeling to prepping, scientific research has long been bogged down by repetitive tasks.

While automation solutions do exist, they’re frequently cost-prohibitive or built for narrow applications. Many labs still rely on human hands to perform fundamental workflows, stifling both productivity and progress. Brontë Kolar and Tahir D'Mello, co-founders of Zeon Systems, see this as a major roadblock in the pace of innovation. Their mission? To give scientists their time back and help science move at the speed of thought.

What Is Zeon Systems and How Does It Work?

Zeon Systems is a San Francisco-based robotics and AI startup founded in 2025 with the bold vision of democratizing lab automation. The company has developed a hybrid hardware and software platform that allows scientists to run complex laboratory experiments by simply describing them in natural language.

Here’s how it works:

1. Input in Plain English – Researchers type their experimental protocol in natural language.
2. AI Interpretation – Zeon’s software interprets the instruction, turning it into a sequence of robotic commands.
3. Real-Time Execution – The system uses two off-the-shelf robotic arms equipped with mounted depth cameras to carry out tasks like pipetting, measuring, and waste disposal.
4. Lab-Aware Intelligence – Thanks to computer vision, the robots detect tools and adapt dynamically to the unique layout and tools of each lab.

No coding. No specialized training. Just science, simplified.

How Is Zeon’s System Different from Traditional Lab Automation?

Unlike legacy automation systems that require weeks of programming and cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, Zeon offers a plug-and-play, AI-driven alternative. Traditional solutions are often designed around a single workflow — say, high-throughput screening or microplate handling — limiting their use to larger pharmaceutical corporations.

Zeon Systems, on the other hand, is built for flexibility. Whether the need is to perform a simple reagent mix or execute a multi-hour nanoparticle fluorescence screen, the system can handle it. With natural language input and real-time robotic interpretation, scientists can pivot experiments on the fly — a previously unheard-of level of agility in lab environments.

And it’s already working. Zeon has piloted its technology with prestigious research institutions like Stanford University and UCSF, showcasing successful overnight automation of tasks like:

• Multichannel pipetting for clinical assays
• Nanoparticle fluorescence screening
• Safe biohazard waste disposal

Who Are the Founders Behind Zeon Systems?

Zeon Systems is the brainchild of two deeply experienced founders with a passion for both hardware and scientific advancement:

Brontë Kolar – CEO and co-founder. With a background in electronic systems for electric aircraft and high-density battery packs, Brontë later transitioned into computational biology research at UCSF, UC Berkeley, and Erasmus Medical Center. She was also an early engineer at LatchBio, a startup working on infrastructure for biotech data.

Tahir D'Mello – CTO and co-founder. Tahir has spent most of his adult life building software and machine learning tools for laboratories, performing computational research at IIT and Yale, and contributing to projects across biotech and pharma in both India and the U.S.

Their combined expertise across robotics, machine learning, and biomedical science provides Zeon with a rare cross-disciplinary advantage. Together, they are building more than a company — they are building a platform that could redefine the relationship between human scientists and their tools.

What Is the Broader Vision for Zeon?

While Zeon Systems is starting with automating individual experiments, the co-founders have a much bigger dream: fully autonomous laboratories. Imagine self-operating scientific labs on Mars, or floating in the ocean, conducting research around the clock — all without human presence. These labs could collect data, test hypotheses, and even refine their own protocols using machine learning.

This “self-driving lab” concept is the logical extension of Zeon’s existing platform. By combining robotic manipulation, natural language processing, and environmental adaptability, the company is laying the groundwork for research environments that are intelligent, responsive, and continuously operational.

This isn’t just science fiction — it’s a future in active development.

How Does Zeon Fit into the Existing Scientific Ecosystem?

Zeon Systems is not here to replace scientists — it’s here to augment them. The startup’s tools are designed with accessibility in mind, enabling individual researchers, academic labs, and smaller biotech startups to compete with well-funded institutions.

The startup also promotes a new paradigm in scientific collaboration, where ideas and execution are seamlessly integrated. In this world, a scientist can sketch an idea at night and wake up to results in the morning — no tedious setup, no robotic programming, and no need for an automation specialist.

And by removing the bottlenecks of manual experimentation, Zeon gives researchers the freedom to focus on what they do best: designing meaningful experiments, interpreting data, and advancing knowledge.

What’s Next for Zeon Systems?

After early success with UCSF and Stanford, Zeon is now scaling up its efforts. As part of Y Combinator’s Spring 2025 batch, the team is looking to expand its reach, both in terms of customer base and technological capability.

Future development areas include:

• Enhanced language model integration to understand more complex protocols
• Broader hardware compatibility to interface with different lab tools and equipment
• Expanded protocol libraries for faster onboarding
• Improved remote monitoring and control to support off-site experimentation

As the team grows, Zeon Systems will continue refining its core offering while pushing the boundaries of what robotic science assistants can do.

Why Does Zeon Matter for the Future of Science?

The scientific method hasn’t changed much in hundreds of years. Observation, experimentation, analysis — these remain the cornerstones of discovery. But the tools of the trade must evolve if science is to keep pace with 21st-century challenges.

Zeon Systems represents a radical yet intuitive shift. By making automation accessible through natural language, the company enables faster iterations, more reproducible results, and greater exploration.

In a world where pandemics, climate change, and global health crises require rapid response, giving scientists more time and capability isn’t just a convenience — it’s a necessity.

Zeon Systems is more than a lab automation company — it’s a bridge between human intuition and machine precision. With AI at its core and accessibility as its ethos, the startup is redefining how science gets done. As Brontë and Tahir put it, they want to make science move at the speed of thought — and thanks to Zeon, that future may be closer than we think.