Highlights:

  • Development of robots to work in several labs will benefit the discoveries and will speed up the process of novel innovations.
  • Machinelike robots can also work in critical situations such as lockdown.

Scientists at the University of Liverpool expressed the importance of emerging technologies that play an important role during pandemic-like situations. The robotic colleague at Liverpool lab was working throughout the lockdown without hampering new research.

The GBP 100,000 programmable expert discovers from its results to enhance its trials. Benjamin Burger, one of the many builders of a robotic colleague, said, “It can work autonomously, so I can run experiments from home.”

Therefore, scientists said, robotic technology can play an important role in the process of new discovery. As it makes the process “thousand times faster.”

The report presented by the Royal Society of Chemistry states, “post-COVID national research strategy,” use of synthetic intelligence, robotics, and superior computing in research labs must be immediately embraced to tackle social distancing. For instance, NASA humanoid started its work of embracing robotic colleagues in a UK lab.

The robotic scientists are experimenting with a number of tests to find a catalyst that would speed up the reaction inside photovoltaic cells. Prof. Andy Cooper, the materials scientist that has put the robotic to work in his lab, said it could be used to help combat COVID-19. He also mentioned that robotic scientists are exclusively preferred during COVID-19 research.

Cooper also stated that numerous issues across the globe need international cooperation. So, there could be one solution, i.e., the use of robots across the globe linked by a centralized brain that can be anywhere in the world.

It is necessary to maintain social distance during pandemic like situations so to restrict researchers’ time in the lab and maintain social distance from one another, and the robo-scientist hugely helps in this endeavor.

Dr. Burger joked, “It doesn’t get bored, doesn’t get tired, works around the clock, and doesn’t need holidays.” He also mentioned that robo-scientists help to save a researcher’s time as it can analyze thousands of samples easily, thus freeing up more time to focus on novel innovations and solutions.

However, several scientists had a question: are machines taking their jobs?

Dr. Deirdre Black replied, “absolutely not, science will always need people.”