{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,24]],"date-time":"2026-07-24T14:55:42Z","timestamp":1784904942798,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)","issue":"95","content-domain":{"domain":["www.science.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Sci. Robot."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,23]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>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.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1126\/scirobotics.adm6991","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,23]],"date-time":"2024-10-23T17:58:26Z","timestamp":1729706306000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.34133\/aaas_crossmark","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":50,"title":["Transforming science labs into automated factories of discovery"],"prefix":"10.1126","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6498-5633","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Angelos","family":"Angelopoulos","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1780-215X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"James F.","family":"Cahoon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4492-1384","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ron","family":"Alterovitz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"221","reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_1_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.drudis.2011.09.012"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.adi1407"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/d41586-019-01246-y"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_5_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fbioe.2020.571777"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_6_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1039\/D3DD00075C"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_7_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-021-23828-z"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_8_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/ncomms15733"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_9_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-018-0307-8"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s42004-021-00550-x"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_11_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aav8816"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_12_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aat0650"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_13_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aaa5414"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_14_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.abb2491"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_15_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aav2211"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_16_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aax1566"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_17_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/1759-4499-2-1"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_18_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/adfm.202312561"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_19_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2211068211435302"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_20_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1021\/acsmacrolett.9b00933"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_21_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.adj1817"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_22_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-023-37139-y"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_23_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1039\/D3DD00109A"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_24_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"S. Kleine-Wechelmann K. Bastiaanse M. Freundel C. Becker-Asano Designing the mobile robot Kevin for a life science laboratory in 2022 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) (IEEE 2022) pp. 870\u2013875.","DOI":"10.1109\/RO-MAN53752.2022.9900786"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_25_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"A. Angelopoulos M. Verber C. McKinney J. Cahoon R. Alterovitz High-accuracy injection using a mobile manipulation robot for chemistry lab automation in 2023 IEEE\/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) (IEEE 2023) pp. 10102\u201310109.","DOI":"10.1109\/IROS55552.2023.10341743"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_26_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-020-2442-2"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_27_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/nsr\/nwac190"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_28_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"H. Liu N. Stoll S. Junginger K. Thurow Mobile robotic transportation in laboratory automation: Multi-robot control robot-door integration and robot-human interaction in 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO 2014) (IEEE 2014) pp. 1033\u20131038.","DOI":"10.1109\/ROBIO.2014.7090468"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_29_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-022-30643-7"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_30_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-023-06734-w"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_31_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cie.2020.106889"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_32_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1039\/D3SC06206F"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_33_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"H. Fakhruldeen G. Pizzuto J. Glowacki A. I. Cooper ARChemist: Autonomous robotic chemistry system architecture in 2022 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (IEEE 2022) pp. 6013\u20136019.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA46639.2022.9811996"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_34_2","unstructured":"Emerald Cloud Lab: Remote Controlled Life Sciences Lab; www.emeraldcloudlab.com\/."},{"key":"e_1_3_1_35_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10514-023-10136-2"},{"key":"e_1_3_1_36_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0076324"}],"container-title":["Science Robotics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1126\/scirobotics.adm6991","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,23]],"date-time":"2024-10-23T17:58:33Z","timestamp":1729706313000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/scirobotics.adm6991"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,23]]},"references-count":35,"journal-issue":{"issue":"95","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,23]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1126\/scirobotics.adm6991"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/scirobotics.adm6991","relation":{},"ISSN":["2470-9476"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2470-9476","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,10,23]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2024-03-18","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2024-09-24","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2024-10-23","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}],"article-number":"eadm6991"}}