Aberystwyth, Wales – A robot named Adam who can develop theories and test them almost without help from humans, became the first machine to a new scientific discovery. His experiences have provided additional expert knowledge about the genetic mechanisms of yeast. In the magazine Science, Professor Ross King and his colleagues the laboratory of the University of Aberystwyth in Country of Wales, explaining how the robot has identified the genetic processes of yeast that were previously unknown. Adam has not only made assumptions about how genes work, he designed and implemented experiments to test their hypotheses.

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has 6 000 genes, but scientists do know that 10 to 15%. Adam asked logical assumptions based on information programmed on the metabolism of yeasts and how genes and proteins function in other species. The scientists conducted their experiments on their side to confirm that the discovery of Adam were original and correct.

“As biological organisms are very complex, it is important that details of the experiments are recorded very precisely. For male scientists, is difficult and tedious, but easy for robots “said Professor King, one of the creators of Adam. “We are very enthusiastic. Ultimately, we hope to have teams of scientists made up of men and robots that work together in the laboratory.

Adam is 15 m² of space in the laboratory. It is equipped with an arm and experimental apparatus, including a freezer, incubator and centrifuge machines. Although the discoveries made by Adam to be relatively simple, Prof King believes that future robot scientists will be able to solve more complex problems. A second robot, named Eve, was already built alongside Adam and will be used to assist the development of new drugs for diseases such as malaria.