AI system helps lab devices ‘talk’ with each other — streamlining research
A new AI platform can connect robotic arms and other equipment into a seamless system. Credit: Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty
Sina Barazandeh watched in amazement as a robotic arm glided back and forth across his team’s lab. The arm loaded a multi-well plate into an instrument that filled the wells with liquid, then carried the plate to a distant device that analysed the wells’ contents. Baranzadeh, a computational biologist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was stunned by the seamless interplay of the lab equipment — no human intervention needed.
The autonomous cooperation is thanks to a software framework called the Model Hardware Standard (MHS) that connects disparate laboratory instruments. It also enables an artificial-intelligence system called an agent to control the equipment and orchestrate experiments. The system grew from a collaboration between US AI firm Anthropic and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia.
