Laboratories in chemistry, biochemistry, and materials science are at the leading edge of technology, discovering molecules and materials to unlock capabilities in energy, catalysis, biotechnology, sustainability, electronics, and more. Yet, most modern laboratories resemble factories from generations past, with a large reliance on humans manually performing synthesis and characterization tasks. Robotics and automation can enable scientific experiments to be conducted faster, more safely, more accurately, and with greater reproducibility, allowing scientists to tackle large societal problems in domains such as health and energy on a shorter timescale. We define five levels of laboratory automation, from laboratory assistance to full automation. We also introduce robotics research challenges that arise when increasing levels of automation and when increasing the generality of tasks within the laboratory. Robots are poised to transform science labs into automated factories of discovery that accelerate scientific progress.

中文翻译：

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将科学实验室转变为自动化的发现工厂


化学、生物化学和材料科学实验室处于技术前沿，发现分子和材料以解锁能源、催化、生物技术、可持续性、电子等领域的能力。然而，大多数现代实验室都类似于过去几代人的工厂，在很大程度上依赖于人工执行合成和表征任务。机器人技术和自动化可以使科学实验更快、更安全、更准确、更具可重复性，使科学家能够在更短的时间内解决健康和能源等领域的重大社会问题。我们定义了实验室自动化的五个级别，从实验室协助到完全自动化。我们还介绍了当提高自动化水平和增加实验室内任务的通用性时出现的机器人研究挑战。机器人已准备好将科学实验室转变为自动化的发现工厂，从而加速科学进步。