![A-Lab on Thursday, April 6, 2023 at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif. 04/06/23](https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/29104722/SEI_184830843.jpg?width=1200)
A-Lab at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California
Marilyn Sargent/Berkeley Lab
A COMMON experience for many PhD students working in labs – the glass beaker and fume cupboard kind – is to feel like a glorified robot. So much science, especially the testing of new materials that students are often left to carry out, can require repetitive drudgery that feels like a waste of time and talent.
Artificial intelligence and actual robots might seem like an obvious way to offload some of this menial work, but, for a long time, the complexity of even simple…