AI robo-doctor speeds up sight-saving technology

A humanoid robot has quickened sight-restoring research by finding the best conditions to grow replacement retina layers from human stem cells. The AI system known as Maholo took just 185 days to complete experiments that would have taken humans two and a half years. In just a quarter of the time, Maholo processed trial-and-error research made up of 200 million possible conditions. The robot was created by a joint research group at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamic Research (BDR) in Kobe, Japan, to grow functional retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells from stem cells. The degeneration of the RPE, which is a supportive layer of cells that lies underneath our photoreceptors, is commonly seen in a progressive disease that is the main cause of blindness in the elderly.