robot adam
© Jen Rowland

In a world first, researchers believe that a robot scientists has independently discovered new scientific knowledge.

The robot, Adam, which is a computer system that fully automates the scientific process, hypothesized that certain genes in baker's yeast code for specific enzymes that catalyse biochemical reactions in yeast. Adam then devised experiments to test these predictions, ran the experiments using laboratory robotics, interpreted the results and repeated the cycle. Separate manual experiments have been used to confirm that the hypotheses were both novel and correct.

"Because biological organisms are so complex it is important that the details of biological experiments are recorded in great detail. This is difficult and irksome for human scientists, but easy for robot scientists," says Ross King, who led the research at Aberystwyth University.

The robot was designed by scientists in the UK at Aberystwyth University and the University of Cambridge to conduct each stage of the scientific process automatically without the need for further human intervention. Adam is still a prototype, but the researchers believe their next robot, Eve, could aid the search for new disease treatments.

"Computers play a fundamental role in the scientific process, which is becoming increasingly automated, for instance in drug design and DNA sequencing," says Douglas Kell, Chief Executive of the UK's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences research Council, which funded the researchers. "This has led to more scientific data, increasingly available on the web, which in turn requires an increased use of computers to analyse these data. Robot scientists could provide a useful tool for managing such data and knowledge, making scientific procedures easier and more efficient."

King says: "Ultimately, we hope to have teams of human and robot scientists working together in laboratories."