Laboratory research often requires large scale, highly complex experiments that need to be repeated multiple times. This slows research, and can represent a major challenge to the success of a research project.
A highly skilled robotic laboratory assistant is providing a much-needed solution. Researchers at the University of Liverpool, led by Professor Andy Cooper (Materials Innovation Factory Director) and Dr Benjamin Burger (Department of Chemistry), have developed an intelligent mobile robot scientist that can carry out large, complex experiments without supervision. Their work was featured in the journal Nature, showing that the robot arm conducted 688 experiments over eight days (as much as a typical student would perform during their entire PhD), working almost continuously to perform tasks using an algorithm to decide which experiment to do next based on the results of the previous experiment.
The company was spun out in 2020 to form Gearu with the aim of supporting R&D programs and to help drive discovery of new solutions in chemistry and materials research by providing custom-made robotic solutions. In 2020, the company (previously named Mobotics), was awarded a share of funding by the Liverpool City Region through the £1m Future Innovation Fund. They aim to provide a service to customers that begins with defining the R&D challenge, providing proof of concept by testing the design and finally deploying in the customer’s research facility.
Headline stats/highlights
- Sector: Robotics and AI
- Finalist in the Enabling Technology category of the 10th Edition of RSC Emerging Tech Competition.
Our strategy with the Mobile Robotic Scientist was to automate the researcher, rather than the instruments. This creates a level of flexibility that will change both the way we work and the problems we can tackle. The first problem we set the Mobile Robotic Scientist was in photocatalysis for hydrogen production, but the most exciting point is that this could be applied to a lot of different chemistries. We have had worldwide interest in our work, and we are currently scaling to meet that global demand.
Professor Andy Cooper, co-founder of Gearu, and Director of the Materials Innovation Factory
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