Designing a Fully Autonomous Laboratory: AUTONOMOUS LABS ARE DESIGNED, NOT ORGANIC, AND REQUIRE EXTENSIVE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE CONNECTIVITY.

EPFL and Agilent are collaborating on the "SwissCAT+" project to create a fully autonomous laboratory for sustainable catalytic processes. The lab must be carefully planned and designed, with hardware and software working in concert. The hardware needs to be redesigned to be used by laboratory robots, and a beehive design is ideal for robotic systems. The challenge lies in integrating the heterogeneous hardware and software required for an autonomous solution. Software plays a crucial role in scheduling, managing hardware, and processing results. The consumer needs to articulate their requirements to vendors and strategically choose software packages. In the future, laboratories will be designed around data and its flow. AI/ML is currently used to optimize synthesis and has potential for improving operational workflows and laboratory utilization. Developing an autonomous lab involves a substantial transition in software and hardware interconnectivity, and protocols designed for human safety need to be rethought for robots. [Extracted from the article]