Jaba Tkemaladze
We propose In Roboto Experimentation as a fourth fundamental modality for biological inquiry, succeeding and complementing in vivo, in vitro, and in silico methods. It is defined as the systematic execution of biological experiments by AI-directed, closed-loop robotic platforms that autonomously perform the core experimental cycle of observation, classification, decision-making, and physical manipulation of biological samples without human intervention over extended timescales. This modality emerges from the necessity to interrogate biological regimes that are intrinsically inaccessible to human experimenters due to limitations of temporal scale, timing precision, and operational consistency. This perspective paper introduces the conceptual framework for In Roboto Experimentation and presents the design rationale for the first fully realized platform of this kind. The platform is a closed-loop microscope-AI-laser system engineered to execute a six-month experiment to test the Centriolar Damage Accumulation Theory of Aging (CDATA). It integrates Recombination-Induced Tag Exchange (RITE) fluorescent centriole tagging, real-time AI vision for segmentation and tracking (CellPose 3.0), autonomous 405 nm laser microablation, and a bounded Claude Code supervisory agent governed by a pre-registered declarative protocol (PROMPT.md). Sections §5 through §10 of the full paper provide complete technical specifications covering hardware integration, software architecture, the operational autonomous loop, and safety interlocks. The primary application is the definitive validation or falsification of the hypothesis that centriolar damage serves as a cell-intrinsic aging counter. This work establishes the epistemological and technical foundations for a new class of experiments that leverage robotic autonomy to explore biological questions at previously unreachable scales and durations.