Berkeley Lab Unveils Autonomous Lab of the Future.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have built an automated lab that uses robots guided by artificial intelligence to accelerate the development of new materials. The lab can process 50 to 100 times as many samples as a human every day and uses AI to quickly pursue promising finds. The system is designed as a “closed-loop,” where decision making is handled without human interference. A-Lab could help identify and fast-track materials for several research areas, such as solar cells, fuel cells, thermoelectrics, and other clean energy technologies.