Sdl (self-driving labs)

<p>"<a class="wikilink" href="/self_driving_laboratory/">Self Driving Laboratory</a>" is an upcoming trend in new material discovery. Although <a class="wikilink" href="/high-throughput_experimentation/">High-throughput experimentation</a> has been around for a while, <a class="wikilink" href="/biotech/">biotech</a> being a prime example of it, we can move one step forward by closing the loop if we can integrate decision-making to the algorithms driving the experimentation. </p> <p>An SDL opens interesting doors when it comes to <a class="wikilink" href="/democratizing_access_to_scientific_results/">democratizing access to scientific results</a>. In principle, a distributed (and interconnected) network of laboratories can be leveraged to perform complex experiments from anywhere in the world (see: <a class="wikilink" href="/202504281112_sdl_approach_to_distributed_discovery/">202504281112 SDL approach to distributed discovery</a>). </p> <p>It does not preclude the need for <a class="wikilink" href="/low-cost_experimentation_frameworks/">low-cost experimentation frameworks</a>, since they will be crucial to developing protocols and new instruments that can be connected to the central facilities. </p> <p>There are many challenges still involved in the creation of self-driving laboratories. Some are purely technical and stem from automation and robotics (where most papers focus). Some come from establishing clear interfaces, protocols, data sharing infrastructure, and updating the <a class="wikilink" href="/ip_regulations_for_ml_discoveries/">IP regulations for ML discoveries</a>. </p> <p>People must be trained to work <em>at</em> and <em>with</em> SDL's. Today, most knowledge institutions work in siloes, where chemistry does not interact with computer science, material science does not work with instrument developers. </p> <p>The continuous drop in costs for experimentation may help revisit the approach to teaching the fundamental skills, but at some point there's need for a systematic type of change in the curricula of universities if the goal is to create enough momentum to push forward this new way of working. </p> <p>I think there's a great <a class="wikilink" href="/overlap_between_hpc_and_sdl/">overlap between HPC and SDL</a>, and only when there's true knowledge sharing across disciplines (beyond the purely user-centric one), there'll be a speedup in the deployment of SDL at scale for the next wave of discoveries. </p> <h2>See next</h2> <p><a class="wikilink" href="/business_models_for_sdl/">Business Models for SDL</a></p>