This lab robot mixes chemicals

Imagine having a robot that can collaborate with a human scientist on a chemistry experiment, says Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a chemist, computer scientist, and materials scientist at the University of Toronto, who is one of the project's leaders. Aspuru-Guzik's vision is to elevate traditional lab automation to "eventually make an AI scientist," one that can perform and troubleshoot an experiment and even offer feedback on the results. Aspuru-Guzik and his team designed Organa to be flexible. That means that instead of performing only one task or one part of an experiment as a typical fixed automation system would, it can perform a multistep experiment on cue. The system is also equipped with visualization tools that can monitor progress and provide feedback on how the experiment is going.