这家名为Conceivable的初创公司在墨西哥城部署了一条17英尺长、约4500磅重的AI辅助机器人实验线AURA，包含6个工位，可在体外完成胚胎生成的全部关键步骤。约150名患者参与了临床试验，截至目前该系统已促成19名婴儿出生。其目标是在需求增长背景下提升体外受精效率；根据2022年数据，传统IVF的活产率为37.5%，而Conceivable称其原型在单周期内将受精卵培育为可植入囊胚的比例达到51%，与人工顶级实验室相当。

公司认为工程化而非生物学是瓶颈。AURA每秒可对移液管进行30次调整，精度达千分之一毫米，并以比现有技术快10倍的速度将胚胎冷冻入液氮，使冰晶数量减少约10倍。愿景是由1名胚胎学家和2名技术员监管的“超级实验室”，每天可生产数千个胚胎，而同等人力的传统实验室仅能产出数百个。单次取卵在美国最高可达3万美元，多轮周期构成成本与痛苦；自动化被寄望于减少周期次数。

宏观趋势强化了这一押注。全球约每6人中就有1人面临自然受孕困难，母亲平均生育年龄上升，全球生育服务市场预计从2024年的640亿美元增长至2029年的1260亿美元。美国仅有不到2000名生殖内分泌医生和约2000名胚胎学家，对比38000名产科医生。Conceivable估计若能覆盖全球市场的5%即可成功，目前累计融资7000万美元；支持者强调规模化潜力，批评者则质疑成本是否真正回落及标准化风险。

The startup Conceivable has deployed a 17-foot-long, roughly 4,500-pound AI-assisted robotic assembly line called AURA in Mexico City, comprising six stations that can complete all key steps of embryo creation outside the body. About 150 patients are enrolled in clinical trials, and the system has helped bring 19 babies to life so far. The aim is to raise IVF efficiency amid rising demand; 2022 data put conventional IVF live-birth rates at 37.5%, while Conceivable says its prototype converts fertilized eggs into implantable blastocysts 51% of the time, comparable to top manual labs.

The company argues the bottleneck is engineering rather than biology. AURA can make 30 pipette adjustments per second at distances as small as one-thousandth of a millimeter and can plunge embryos into liquid nitrogen 10 times faster than current methods, cutting ice-crystal formation by about tenfold. Its vision is a “superlab” run by one embryologist and two technicians producing thousands of embryos per day, versus hundreds for comparable human labor. In the US, a single egg-retrieval cycle can cost up to $30,000, and automation is pitched as a way to reduce repeat cycles.

Macro trends reinforce the bet. Roughly 1 in 6 people worldwide cannot conceive naturally, average maternal age is rising, and the global fertility-services market is projected to grow from $64 billion in 2024 to $126 billion in 2029. The US has fewer than 2,000 reproductive endocrinologists and about 2,000 embryologists, compared with 38,000 obstetricians. Conceivable estimates capturing 5% of the global market would suffice for success and has raised $70 million to date, with supporters citing scale potential and critics questioning cost pass-through and standardization risks.