C5R reports AI-run research facility and launches lab benchmark

C5R says it built Facility-0, a research facility where AI models design experiments, operate equipment and interpret results across biology, chemistry and materials science. The company also released SciUniverse, a benchmark that tests whether models can turn scientific goals into results using the facility or its digital twin. C5R says it connected more than 40 instruments through custom adapters and software. Models can inspect inventory, write experimental procedures and revise their plans after reviewing measurements; some equipment instructions are passed to people. In the company's early tests, models made physical-lab mistakes including contaminating DNA and pipetting frozen samples.