C12.AI — CONNECTING BITS & ATOMS

Physical AI Scientists

Connecting molecular design with physical execution in real laboratories, helping scientists move faster from hypothesis to validation.

Trusted By Industry Leaders

BeOne Medicines logoBeOne Medicines
Risun Group logoRisun Group
Qilu Pharmaceutical logoQilu Pharmaceutical
Research institutes under the Chinese Academy of Sciences logoResearch institutes under the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Our Mission

Helping Good Science Happen Faster

We see too much valuable time in laboratories still consumed by repetitive execution, condition adjustment, and cross-instrument work. We want to hand more of that burden to reliable systems, so scientists can focus on judgment, creativity, and the questions that matter most. If validation becomes faster and lower-friction, more valuable molecules, medicines, and materials have a chance to reach reality sooner.

Why Now

In molecular science, the bottleneck is often not design, but validation

AI can now generate candidate molecules and experimental ideas in a short amount of time, but physical execution in the real world remains slow, expensive, and difficult to scale. That stretches the loop from hypothesis to validation and limits the steady accumulation of high-quality experimental data. Design capabilities are advancing quickly, while physical execution remains a key constraint on R&D speed.

>$10B

Per approved drug

~10yr

Development timeline

<10%

Success rate

Digital AI

Minutes / molecule

Physical execution

Weeks / molecule

We bridge this gap with Physical AI Scientists.

Core Capabilities

Closing the Loop from Design to Execution

We are starting with some of the most real and demanding parts of drug R&D, then extending these capabilities to broader molecular science workflows.

Molecular AI Brain

Integrating retrosynthesis planning, molecular property prediction, spectral analysis, and the interpretation, analysis, and hypothesis adjustment of experimental phenomena, it helps teams move experimental loops forward more efficiently and shortens the time from molecular design to validated results.

Physical AI Execution

Powered by our proprietary VLA architecture, our general-purpose mobile robot works directly with existing lab instruments, taking on repetitive, cross-instrument, and adjustment-heavy execution work while reducing manual switching and wait time.

Data Flywheel

Every real experiment generates new execution and feedback data that continuously improves the system, allowing our robot to build a deeper understanding of the physical world over time.

Closed-loop Workflow

AI Design
Physical Execution
Auto Analysis
Continuous Evolution
Loop

Starting from drug discovery, our robot is equally applicable to R&D and manufacturing across the broader molecular sciences.

See our robot in Action

We are starting with some of the most real and demanding parts of drug R&D, then extending these capabilities to broader molecular science workflows.

Validated Results

Proven inside a top global pharma lab

0%

Real-world molecule purification success rate

0 days

Trial operation at BeOne Medicines' lab

0+

Physical operations with zero execution errors

BeOne Medicines · Small-Molecule Purification (Project Code: Talos)

Deployed inside BeOne Medicines' production-grade pharmaceutical lab. Our robot autonomously executed drug molecule intermediate purification with real-time chromatographic condition adjustment and cross-instrument operation. Zero lab renovation. Full human-robot collaboration.

  • Purification of 15 real drug intermediate molecules
  • Stable operation in a real R&D environment
  • Zero lab renovation, plug-and-play deployment
  • Collaborative execution of complex workflows with scientists

Core Team

A team grown at the intersection of healthcare and AI

We come from the intersection of pharma, healthcare, and technology, so we understand not only models and systems, but also the workflows, constraints, and collaboration patterns inside real laboratories.

Jerry Chen, Ph.D.

Founder & CEO

WuXi AppTec

SVP & Chief Data Officer · WuXi AppTec

Spearheaded digital transformation and innovation across drug discovery, pre-clinical, clinical trials, and manufacturing

Tencent Medical Big Data Lab

Founder & Head · Tencent Medical Big Data Lab

Built Tencent's healthcare big data infrastructure; launched China's first AI-powered triage system, deployed at multiple top-tier hospitals

Alibaba Health

Chief Architect / Head of Algorithm & Model Team · Alibaba Health

Defined healthcare big data and AI strategy; launched China's first internet hospital

Twitter

Tech Lead, Card Platform · Twitter

University of Michigan

Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering · University of Michigan

We're looking for exceptional talent in AI, robotics, chemistry, and life sciences.

Join Us

News

Latest Updates

2025.08

虎嗅网

抗癌药们的研发,终于摁下加速键

人类从未停止过与癌症、阿尔兹海默症、艾滋病等疾病等抗争。但苦于新药研发的速度,这场疾病抗争史迟迟未能出现质的改变。而以生成式AI为基础的大模型的出现,正在从根本上改变这一进程。

Read Original Article

Let's Build the Future of
Physical AI Together

Whether you're a pharma leader exploring lab automation, or a talented engineer ready to push the frontier — we'd love to hear from you.