Robot Makes Scientific Discovery (Sort Of)
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Monday, 6 of April , 2009 at 6:23 am
Adam, a laboratory robot created by scientists from Aberystwyth University (that’s in Wales, in case you were wondering) and the University of Cambridge, has been able to determine (more or less all by itself) which genes are responsible for several enzymes in baker’s yeast. Adam formulated a hypothesis from a database of previous research, autonomously performed genetic tests, and identified the origins of the enzymes.
Adam itself is about 17 feet long, and consists of a whole bunch of different modules connected together to allow complex lab tasks to be performed autonomously. There are freezers, incubators, washers, filters, analyzers, a bunch of robot arms, and of course all of the computer hardware and software to get everything working together the way it’s supposed to. There’s an embedded video over at Technology Review.
I have to ask, though… Is this really a scientific discovery? It’s true that Adam experimentally derived information that was not previously known. But, there have been programs sifting through data looking for exciting stuff in the field of astronomy for years, and I guess in the strict sense, all such things are scientific discoveries made by artificial intelligence. But all the discovery is, really, is the result of automated grunt work. What Adam is good at is performing a whole bunch of lab analysis that requires patience, precision, and reproducibility, testing permutations of things over and over until it hits on something relevant. The cool part about Adam, then, is its ability to reduce the huge data sets that it produces to results that mean something. Whether or not this is discovery (in a more conceptual sense) is perhaps arguable.
Personally, I would like to think that humans are capable of some kind of ineffable spark of creative genius that would be will be very hard for machines to duplicate. But perhaps I’m fooling myself… Perhaps there will soon be robots that will be able to absorb inhuman amounts of raw scientific data, analyze it, and then crank out amazing and insightful discovery after amazing and insightful discovery. Undoubtedly, this would be good for scientific progress, and good for humanity. At least, for a little while… ::cue ominous music::
Next, the researchers are working on a robot called Eve, who will be able to work in concert with Adam to search for drugs to combat malaria.
[ Robot Scientist ] VIA [ Scientific American ]
Comments (1)
Category: Artificial Intelligence, Research
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Comment by Kristina
Made Thursday, 9 of April , 2009 at 4:53 pm
You’re right, it’s not *quite* scientific discovery. In the paper, the researchers mention “Lady Lovelace’s Objection,” which basically states that machines can’t really ‘discover’ anything. Since they’re programmed by humans, they only have as much (real) knowledge as we do.
If you’d like to read more, head here: http://kristinag.com/2009/04/07/robot-scientists/