Anthropic has opened a research preview of the Model Hardware Standard, a shared specification designed to help AI agents safely operate physical equipment. Developed initially with HHMI Janelia Research Campus, MHS creates a standardized interface for devices such as microscopes, robotic arms, liquid handlers, cameras, and manufacturing equipment.
It supports MCP, command-line tools, and APIs, allowing agents to coordinate multiple devices, monitor experiments, adjust parameters, and recover from some hardware errors. Early projects across biotech, robotics, and quantum computing reduced hardware integration from weeks or months to hours or minutes.
Anthropic plans to open-source the standard following further safety testing.
