AI, Automation Aid Science Exploration

During the COVID-19 pandemic, robots helped Carnegie Mellon University students in the Computational Biology Department complete lab assignments. Joshua Kangas , an assistant professor in the Computational Biology Department and co-director of the Master of Science in Automated Science (MSAS) program, said students could log in to the Automated Science Lab 's integrated robot, design experimental protocols and use cameras to watch the robots run their experiments. "We set up the system allowing remote access to the lab, and it was used remotely by students in my courses," Kangas said. "We had students from all over the world using the automation lab."     This innovative approach to solving lab-access problems was possible because of many prior developments designed to conduct experimentation in a more efficient, cost-effective manner on large, complicated research problems. To celebrate automation and AI-driven science, Carnegie Mellon - long home to leading experts in the fields of AI, automation and the sciences looking to push the boundaries of many disciplines - hosted the third Nobel Turing Challenge Initiative Workshop July 11-12. The workshop was organized by the Nobel Turing Challenge Initiative and sponsored by Carnegie Mellon with additional support from the Systems Biology Institute. "This workshop holds a special place in our hearts, as the development of AI-driven science has a long and esteemed history here at CMU," said Theresa Mayer , the university's vice president for.