‘Cobots’ drive pharma’s shift toward scalable cell therapies

Robotics adoption in pharmaceutical manufacturing is accelerating. According to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), robot orders in the life sciences and pharmaceutical sector rose 22% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2025. A significant chunk of that growth is being fueled by collaborative robots (cobots), which accounted for nearly a quarter of all units ordered and 14.7% of sector revenue during Q2, according to A3’s report.

Cobots are carving out a role in pharmaceutical manufacturing, with a recent peer-reviewed study noting success in particular within the cell and gene therapy (CGT) space. Multiply Labs, working in partnership with collaborative robotics developer Universal Robots (UR), has developed a robotic biomanufacturing cluster that was shown to cut the cost of producing life-saving cell therapies by 74%.

“Robotics is proving to be a perfect use case for high-mix manufacturing,” says Winston Zha, special projects lead at Multiply Labs. “Nowhere is that more true than in autologous cell therapies, where every batch is personalized for a patient. The cutting-edge of treatments is clearly trending towards these personalized medicines across the industry.”

Tackling the challenge of CGT

Despite advancements in treatment science, manufacturing for cell and gene therapies remains mostly manual. Scientists in cleanrooms perform many delicate, repetitive tasks by hand, from pipetting to shaking cells. This artisanal approach is not only costly and time-consuming but also carries risks. For example, there is the potential for contamination to ruin a patient’s therapy.

Rather than reinvent the process, the robotics cluster system developed by Multiply Labs and UR is designed to faithfully replicate these manual steps using robotic arms. By learning directly from expert scientists’ demonstrations, the system has the ability to repeat the processes.

“We’re lucky to work with some really amazing process scientists, who help describe everything to us engineers in ways that we can understand,” says Nadia Kreciglowa, head of robotics software at Multiply Labs. “That has been invaluable in making sure that we translate the bioprocess into robotic actions that are equivalent to what is happening during a manual process.”

The UR cobots were chosen for their six-axis flexibility, precise handling capabilities, seamless software integration, strong community support, and cleanroom compatibility, according to Kreciglowa.

“What you look to do in pharmaceuticals is to establish a manual baseline for a test,” says Conor Kennedy, global segment manager for pharmaceuticals at Universal Robots. “Once you do that, however the process is validated, you then can do it automated and show that my automated system is better than my manual system. The ability to work on the existing piece of equipment allowed Multiply Labs to do exactly that, where they created a baseline for cell therapy manufacturing with people and then were able to surpass that with automated solutions, but they didn’t have to reinvent the process.”

Boosting cleanroom efficiency

The robotics cluster system also addresses a key bottleneck in cleanroom utilization. Multiply Labs claims that its high-density robotic clusters can produce up to 100 times more patient doses per square foot of a cleanroom compared to manual processes.

Configuring the clusters will vary depending on facility needs and require extensive analysis, according to Zha. From the number of robotic arms and workstations to the storage units, every element is tailored to align with a customer’s specific process.

“Our software tracks which batch belongs to which patient and ensures that the correct steps are done at the correct time,” says Kreciglowa. “We can also leverage technologies like barcode scanning to ensure that all materials are well tracked per patient batch, because there are dozens of cell therapies for a multitude of patients going through the cluster at any given time.”

Delivering cost savings at scale

Also critical to this innovation are the cost cutting benefits. The achievement of a 74% cost reduction was based on a peer-reviewed study from Multiply Labs, in conjunction with UCSF and Stanford, that demonstrated the equivalence between the technology of the robotic biomanufacturing cluster and manual operators.

When comparing labor, facility, amortized hardware, and consumables per therapy, the study found that the traditional manual process costs just over $100,000 per therapy. The robotic process, by contrast, came in at approximately $25,000, achieving the 74% reduction in cost.

“Today, the demand for cell therapies far exceeds the available supply,” says Kreciglowa. “By reducing costs and enabling higher throughput with robotic manufacturing, we can help more patients access these life-saving treatments faster.” 

Gradual shift toward robotics

For an industry historically slow to embrace change, this kind of progress is notable. A3’s Q2 report noted that some of the expanding role of automation is being driven by pharma’s push for greater operational efficiency in the face of rising complexity, costs, and demand for personalized medicine.

“The pharmaceutical industry is slow and cautious to adopt new technologies,” says Kennedy. “However, given the challenges associated with manufacturing medicines and the advancements in collaborative robotics over the last several years partners like Multiply Labs are driving a noticeable interest from the industry that will continue as increasingly pharmaceutical specific collaborative robotics are developed.”