Cheap networked chemical robots work together collaboratively
Researchers in the Cronin group have developed a cheap, easy to operate liquid handling platform capable of performing a range of chemical reactions. Any number of these platforms can be connected via a shared server to communicate and learn from the other’s results. In this way a large number of reactions can be performed significantly faster by spreading the workload over many platforms. This work, published in Nature Communications, demonstrates that robotic assistance in vastly different chemical processes, from inorganic crystallization to non-equilibrium oscillation manipulation is possible via affordable hardware and clever software.